I had this as a late-night snack in Japan, but it’s great at breakfast, too, a soothing, homey soup that is also good made with tofu or leftover chicken. Even if you don’t have dashi, you can execute this dish in a half hour or so. You can make fresh rice for this, of course, but if you use leftover rice—which is fine—heat it first; the microwave does a fine job of this. Some Japanese make small individual omelets for each bowl, but others use the easier, if somewhat odd, technique of cooking the egg in the soup, as here.

　　

Ingredients

makes 4 servings

　　3 cups Dashi (page 162)

　　1/4 cup good-quality soy sauce

　　1/4 cup mirin or 2 tablespoons honey

　　2 tablespoons sake

　　1/4 to 1/2 pound chopped boneless, skinless chicken or firm tofu

　　4 eggs

　　4 scallions, chopped

　　4 cups cooked short-grain rice (page 507), hot

　　1/2 sheet nori, lightly toasted (page 121), optional

　　

Step 1

Combine the dashi in a medium saucepan with the soy sauce, mirin, and sake and bring to a boil. Lower the heat a bit, then add the chicken or tofu; adjust the heat so the mixture simmers and cook, stirring occasionally, for 2 or 3 minutes.

　　

Step 2

Beat the eggs in a bowl with the scallions and add, slowly, to the bubbling mixture; let cook, undisturbed, until the eggs’ edges are set, then stir once or twice. (The egg should not be fully set; it will finish cooking before you eat it.) Put the hot rice in 4 deep soup bowls and pour the soup over it. Crumble the nori and sprinkle it over the top if you’re using it and serve.

　　

Rice Soup with Tofu and Vegetables

Step 3

In step 1, you may use water instead of dashi (though dashi is still preferable). Add the seasonings, then 1 thinly sliced carrot, 1 thinly sliced onion, 4 thinly sliced fresh shiitake mushroom caps, and, if you like, a few leaves of spinach. Simmer for about 10 minutes, until the vegetables soften. Add the tofu and proceed.

　　The Best Recipes in the World by Mark Bittman. © 2005 by Mark Bittman. Published by Broadway Books. All Rights Reserved.MARK BITTMAN is the author of the blockbuster The Best Recipes in the World (Broadway, 2005) and the classic bestseller How to Cook Everything, which has sold more than one million copies. He is also the coauthor, with Jean-Georges Vongerichten, of Simple to Spectacular and Jean-Georges: Cooking at Home with a Four-Star Chef. Mr. Bittman is a prolific writer, makes frequent appearances on radio and television, and is the host of The Best Recipes in the World, a 13-part series on public television. He lives in New York and Connecticut.