Matsutake suimono (clear soup) 松茸お吸い物

Matsutake suimono (clear soup) — This classic Japanese autumn soup is cooked with seasonal matsutake mushrooms, tofu and mitsuba herb in a clear dashi broth. It’s absolutely nourishing and packed with health benefits. photo by Namiko Chen

A classic Japanese autumn soup, matsutake suimono (clear soup) is cooked with seasonal matsutake mushrooms, tofu and the mitsuba herb in a clear dashi broth. It’s absolutely nourishing and packed with health benefits.

Matsutake soup (松茸お吸い物) is a classic Japanese autumn soup with highly-prized fragrant matsutake mushrooms in clear dashi broth. This type of soup does not have miso paste, and is called suimono or osuimono, which means “food you can sip.”

What are matsutake mushrooms?
If you are a seasoned mushroom forager or mushroom connoisseur, you’ve probably heard of matsutake mushrooms. An aromatic mushroom found near specific species of pine tree, matsutake are large firm mushrooms that are ivory in color. In Japanese, matsu (松) means pine and take (茸) means mushroom. It has a very distinct taste and smell like no other food. Imagine a mushroom with an extremely concentrated smell of pine wood. Matsutake holds a special place in the culinary world in Japan, just like truffles are to French people.

We also strongly believe that eating matsutake has many health benefits, including reducing the free radicals that lead to cancer.

The Japanese have many different preparations for this savory mushroom. One of the simplest ways to enjoy this prized mushroom is by simply grilling it and seasoning it with soy sauce and mirin. We also use it to infuse other dishes like rice or chawanmushi.

In Japan, due to an issue with pine roundworm, the production has decreased over the past few decades. However the mushroom is also grown in other parts of the world. The ones I buy from the local market are from the U.S. (Oregon/Washington areas).

Alternatives to Matsutake Mushrooms

For this clear soup recipe, if you cannot find matsutake locally, you can substitute with other kinds of mushrooms.

You can also experiment with other ingredients you think that will work for a clear delicate soup. My recommendation is to choose ingredients with simple flavors, as they can’t overpower the subtle yet rich flavor of dashi broth. Try to combine a nice selection of colors and shapes.

As for the dashi, you can use convenient dashi powder instead of making the dashi soup base from scratch to save time. But for a simple dish like this where seasonings are minimal, good broth made from scratch will make a huge difference in the resulting flavor. For this simple homemade dashi recipe, I cut down some of the extra steps from my original dashi recipe. All you need is konbu and katsuobushi; they are available at most Asian supermarkets and not necessarily just in Japanese supermarkets.

Looking at the image above, you might wonder about those cute little pink balls in the soup. They are called Temari Fu (手まり麩). Fu (麩) or Ofu (お麩) is wheat gluten that is often used as meat substitutes (read more details here: https://www.justonecookbook.com/fu-wheat-gluten/). Temari is a traditional Japanese ball made by kimono scraps (see the photo at https://www.justonecookbook.com/matsutake-clear-soup). I included these balls to add a nice accent to the color of the soup. I brought these back from my Japan trip, and unfortunately this type of fu is hard to find outside of Japan.

Aromatic, healing and cleansing, matsutake soup can literally warm you from head to heart when the weather is starting to cool down. I hope you enjoy the recipe as much as I do.

Matsutake Suimono (Clear Soup) 松茸お吸い物
A classic Japanese autumn soup, Matsutake Suimono (Clear Soup) is cooked with seasonal matsutake mushrooms, tofu and mitsuba herb in a clear dashi broth. It’s absolutely nourishing and packed with health benefits.

Matsutake clear soup (suimono)
A classic Japanese autumn soup, matsutake suimono (clear soup) is cooked with seasonal matsutake mushrooms, tofu and mitsuba herb in a clear dashi broth. It’s absolutely nourishing and packed with health benefits.

Prep Time: 5 mins
Cook Time: 15 mins
Total Time: 20 mins
Servings: 2

Ingredients
1 matsutake mushroom (1.1 oz, 31 g; use other kinds of mushrooms if matsutake is not available)
5 oz soft/silken tofu (kinugoshi dofu) (3” x 1.5”, 7.6 x 3.8 cm)
4 Temari Fu (wheat gluten) (optional; bought in Japan)
4 sprigs mitsuba (Japanese parsley) (substitute it with a green onion/scallion)
yuzu zest (or lemon peel)

For the dashi
2 cups water
1 piece konbu (dried kelp)
(0.2 oz, 5 g; 3” x 3”, 7.6 x 7.6 cm)
1 cup katsuobushi (dried bonito flakes) (0.4 oz; 1 handful)

For the Seasonings
1 Tbsp sake
2 tsp mirin
2 tsp soy sauce
½ tsp kosher salt (Diamond Crystal; use half for table salt)

Japanese Ingredient Substitution: If you want substitutes for Japanese condiments and ingredients, visit https://www.justonecookbook.com/ingredient-substitution-for-japanese-cooking.

For the full recipe, visit: https://www.justonecookbook.com/matsutake-clear-soup/.