Buta Jiru (pork miso soup)

1/3 cup fresh pork cutlet

1/3 cup raw onion sliced and cut into one inch pieces

1 raw carrot cut into half inch pieces

½ raw sweet potato (or white potato)

½ pkg. (7 ½ oz.) firm tofu cubed

2-3 shiitake mushrooms quartered or 2 thick slices of portabella quartered

1/4 cup gobo (burdock) [remove skin, then create shavings with a potato peeler]

½ pkg. (4 ½ oz.) konnyaku (devil's tongue), hand shredded into one inch pieces

2 cups water

8 tablespoons miso

1 ½ teaspoons katsuo-dashi

3 tablespoons vegetable oil

Heat oil in 6 qt. saucepan to frying temperature, but don't burn it. Add pork, onion, carrot, potato, mushroom, gobo, and konnyaku and stir fry 2 to 3 minutes. Add water. Bring to boil, then cook about 10 minutes. If potato is soft, everything else will be okay. Add tofu. Continue cooking 2-3 minutes, then remove from heat. Add miso and katsuo-dashi. Serves 4.