How mushroom soup is making soup

In the Taste of Life series, cooking experts, chefs and others involved in the field of food present their special recipes intertwined with their paths in life.

One morning, a small incident caused Kaoru Ariga to start making soup.

Eleven years ago in December, the day after Christmas, she opened the refrigerator and found some mushrooms that she forgot to use when cooking the Christmas feast. Ariga sauteed them with onions and made a soup.

She checked the taste and discovered it was quite good.

She called out to his son, who was in his final year of high school, and had a few months to go until his college exams.

Although he was not an early riser and took time to get up in the morning, he left his bed easily that day after hearing her call out.

Ariga made soup the next day, surprised by this a bit. It was a gesture of wish that his exams would go well.

She made a different soup every morning and posted the picture on social media, giving creative twists to the ingredients she had at home. She liked the reactions from people who saw the posts and got hooked on making soup.

Ariga had worked as a freelance writer until she retired and none of her assignments was related to food. She continued to create recipes and the pictures she shot of each, and she started serializing them on web media, calling herself a soup creator. In 2016 she published her first book, 365 nichi no mezamashi supu soup that wakes you up 365 days I never imagined that cooking would become my vocation, says Ariga.

Ariga says she breaks down soup into components of ingredients, oil, seasonings and stock and keeps changing the combination a bit to come up with recipes, such as switching the green onion she used the last time to carrots, or choosing a miso flavor instead of salt flavor, and so on.

She says that the relish can be changed by changing the way you cut the ingredient.

Another memory of her childhood is associated with mushroom soup. Back in the day, mushrooms were usually sold in cans and fresh ones were hard to find. Her mother would make mushroom soup by stirring in milk to the instant soup mix.

My father loved soup, and I remember how it would often appear on the dinner table, says Ariga.

Although soup stock is not used in this week's recipe, the umami of the mushrooms and the richness of milk go well together and turn out warming soup.

Kaoru Ariga was born in Tokyo in 1964 and is a soup creator who offers simple and easy-to-make soup recipes as well as lifestyle tips through various media. Her books include Asa 10 pun de dekiru supu bento Packed soup lunch you can make in 10 minutes in the morning, published by Magazine House. Raifu Supu Kurashi ga totonou watashitachi no shin-teiban 48 pin Life soup: Our 48 new staple soup that sort out our lives will be published by President Inc. at the end of September.

Cut off base of mushroom s stem, rinse briefly, pat dry and slice.

Add butter and garlic to pot and cook on low heat. When the aroma starts to rise, add onion and sautee. Cook flour and cook for 1 to 2 minutes. Add 300 ml water and bring to a boil while mixing thoroughly.

Add mushrooms and salt and simmer for 8 to 10 minutes. Add around 100 ml milk to get the preferred thickness. If necessary, add salt not listed above. If preferred, pour in bowl and serve with finely chopped parsley or toasted thinly sliced baguette bread.

There are about 150 kcal and 1.7 grams salt per portion.

Nutrients Calculation by the Nutrition Clinic of Kagawa Nutrition University When adding water to the pot, do so in one go. If lumps form, dissolve them by mixing with a whisk. As heated, the soup will become smooth.