Tonyu is soy milk and nabe means hot pot, so here we have a delicious and nutritious, sweet, rounded, and delicate in flavour, soothing winter soup. It is a very popular dish in Japan, often served in ryokan (Japanese inns) or tofu restaurants. This dish is very healthy, with high volumes of isoflavin – chemicals very similar to the hormone estrogen. Isoflavones are connected to a whole host of health issues, with the most prevant being the prevention of many cancers, heart disease, osteoporosis and more.
At the start of the dish when we heat the soy milk, a skin on the top is eventually formed which is called yuba. This is considered a delicacy in Japan, packed with goodness and expensive to buy. If you like tofu, you are sure to like yuba, so give it a taste to reward yourself half way through cooking this dish! I also used left over meat balls from the renkon hasami yaki.
Ingredients

500ml soy milk

500ml water

1tsp fish stock

1tsp sake

salt

1tsp Asian chicken stock (or 1tsp fish stock)

2tsp soy sauce

3-500g pork slices or chicken thigh

Any vegetables – I like Chinese cabbage, shiitake or enoki mushrooms, carrots, leeks, shallots, tofu

Ponzu (citrus soy sauce)

1 packet abura age (fried tofu)
Step 1

Heat the soy milk gently and remove the skin that will form on top – this is the yuba, and should be eaten as if it is sashimi – with soy sauce and wasabi. If you’re not a fan of tofu, you probably won’t like the yuba so just...