Hiyajiru (chilled miso soup) with cucumber ice cubes

The perfect hot weather dish from chef Tim Anderson's Nanban - even if you only make the cucumber ice cubes

Tim writes: One of my all-time favorite dishes on a hot day. Some may find the idea of a cold miso and fish soup strange, but keep in mind all the cold miso and fish dishes found throughout Japan – this just takes those flavours and translates them into a refreshing liquid format. Usually this is served with a side of hot rice so diners can enjoy the contrasting temperatures. I use room temperature rice so everything stays nice and cold, but do whatever you prefer.

In Miyazaki this is dished up with a few ice cubes in it to keep it cold. I don’t really like this because as they melt, all they do is dilute the soup. To add flavour where it would otherwise be lost, I use cucumber-chilli ice cubes, which make the dish both lighter and more exciting as you get to the bottom of the bowl. This will make more ice cubes than you need, but they are fantastic in a Bloody Mary, or G&T.

Hiyajiru
冷や汁
Chilled miso soup

Yield: 4-6 servings

For the miso soup:

2 mackerel fillets or 4 sardine fillets (about 150g total), skinned and boned
30g miso
15g toasted sesame seeds
40ml rice vinegar
40ml mirin
300ml dashi
340g firm silken tofu, pressed to extract moisture
300g rice
1/2 cucumber
20g beni shoga (red ginger), minced
4 leaves shiso or 8 leaves basil, cut into a chiffonade
salt
sesame oil

For the cucumber-chilli ice cubes

1/2 cucumber
juice of 1/2 lime
2 Thai green chillies
30ml rice vinegar
50ml water
pinch of salt

To make the ice cubes, simply puree all the ingredients in a blender. Pass the purée through a fine sieve and transfer to an ice cube tray. Freeze until set.

For the miso soup: Season the fish with a little salt and grill until done – it should actually be a little overcooked so it’s quite dry. Purée this in a blender along with the miso, sesame seeds, vinegar, mirin, dashi, and 100g of the tofu until completely smooth. Pass through a fine sieve and refrigerate for at least an hour to get it really nice and cold. (The mixture will separate as it chills. Not to worry – store it in a jar and give it a good shake to bring it back together before serving).

To serve: Cook the rice. Cut the remaining half of cucumber lengthwise, then shave it thinly – use a mandolin, if you have one. Salt the cucumber slices liberally and leave them to sit for 10 minutes, then squeeze out the liquid and give them a quick rinse under cold water. Cut the remaining tofu into small cubes.

Place a mound of tofu and cucumber slices in each bowl. Add a small spoonful of beni shoga on top, and then a pile of shiso chiffonade. Pour in the soup, stopping just before it reaches the top of the tofu and cucumbers. Add a few drops of sesame oil and the ice cubes. Serve rice on the side.

What to drink: Like many soups I'm not sure this needs any liquid accompaniment but a glass of chilled sake would work or a very dry white such as a muscadet.

© Nanban: Japanese Soul Food by Tim Anderson (Square Peg), photography by Paul Winch-Furness.

Carrot and beetroot borscht

New year tends to mean two things - frugal living and healthy eating - and this recipe my eldest daughter Jo devised when she was a student ticks both boxes. Best, of course, with organic veg if you can get hold of them.

Serves 4

3 tbsp organic sunflower or organic rapeseed oil
4 rashers of smoked streaky bacon, finely chopped
1 medium onion, peeled and finely chopped
2 medium carrots (about 175-200g), well scrubbed or peeled and grated
3 medium beetroot (about 300-350g), peeled
1 fresh tomato, skinned and roughly chopped (optional but good)
1 tsp chopped fresh thyme leaves or 1/2 tsp dried thyme
750ml vegetable stock mixed with about 1/2 tsp brown miso or, at a pinch, Marmite
a handful of beet greens, washed and shredded
salt, freshly ground black pepper and sugar or vinegar to taste

Heat 2 tbsp of the oil in a large saucepan or casserole and fry the bacon for a few minutes until the fat begins to run. Stir in the onion, turn the heat down, cover and cook for 4-5 minutes then add the remaining oil and the grated carrot, pop a lid on the pan and continue to cook over a low heat. Halve the beetroot, slice thinly then slice across into short batons. Tip the beetroot and tomato, if using, into the other vegetables, stir, add the thyme and continue to cook for another 5 minutes. Add the stock and bring to the boil then cook until the vegetables are soft (about 20 minutes). Season to taste with salt and pepper. Add a little sugar if you feel it needs it or a few drops of vinegar if you think it needs sharpening up. Add the shredded greens, cook for a couple more minutes and serve. Good with rye or sourdough bread or crispbread spread with a soft cheese like Quark or goats cheese

What to drink: Assuming you've given up booze for a few days I'd go for water or a dry-ish apple juice. Otherwise a nicely chilled pilsner would be perfect

Soup for Syria: spiced red lentil soup

I don't often post commercial recipes but this delicious soup from London restaurant Arabica Bar & Kitchen is being promoted in a very good cause.

All profits from the soup, which they're selling in their restaurant throughout January, are being donated to 'Soup for Syria', the humanitarian cookbook project fronted by food writer Barbara Abdeni Massaad. The money raised will go to the UN Refugee Agency UNHCR to help provide urgently needed food relief for Syrian refugees.

Serves 4 generously

Ingredients

3 tbsp olive oil

2 small onions, diced

2 cloves garlic, crushed

2 tsp ras el hanout

½ tsp urfa chilli flakes

1 bay leaf

2 tsp tomato paste

200g red lentils

3 tsp pomegranate molasses

1- 1.2 litres hot water

Sea salt to taste

Black pepper

To finish

Fresh thyme leaves

Sumac

Fried onions or shallots (Available from any oriental supermarket)

Black pepper

Method

Peel and finely dice the onion.

Heat the olive oil in a medium sized saucepan, add the onions and cook on a low heat until they soften, become translucent and give off their natural sweetness.

Add the garlic, bay leaf, and ras el hanout and continue to cook on a low heat for further minute stirring continuously.

Add the tomato paste, red lentils and slowly add 1 litre of boiling water mixing as you go. Finally add the pomegranate molasses. Bring to the boil. Skim the surface if necessary. Lower the heat to a gentle simmer and cook for 30 minutes or till the lentils are fully cooked and begin to break down.

Blend the soup to a smooth consistency and season with salt to taste. If the soup is too thick add more water.

To serve ladle into deep soup bowls, drizzle with olive oil, liberally sprinkle with crispy onions, a pinch of cracked black pepper, a few fresh thyme leaves and a tiny pinch of citrusy sumac.

What to drink: I'm not sure you really need anything to drink with this apart from water - I mean it is January, right? But I wouldn't say no to a glass of Domaine des Tourelles red from the Bekaa Valley in Lebanon

Asparagus soup topped with ricotta, chives and crispy chicken

A clever recipe from Tom Kitchin's Kitchin Suppers making the best of the short homegrown asparagus season. I love the twist of adding shredded chicken wings and ricotta as a topping which both poshes it up and makes it more substantial.

Tom writes: "I treasure asparagus during its short six-week season in late spring/early summer as it’s the only time I eat it; the flavour of imported asparagus is so inferior by comparison. If you have an asparagus farm nearby you may be able to buy ‘soup asparagus’, which is cheaper because the spears aren’t perfectly shaped, but are just as flavourful. You can serve the soup hot or cold. Shaved raw asparagus and crispy chicken with ricotta and chives give a lovely contrasting finish.

Serves 4

800g asparagus spears

olive oil for cooking

1 white onion, peeled and sliced

sea salt and freshly ground black pepper

450ml homemade chicken stock

50g baby spinach leaves

Chicken and ricotta garnish

12 chicken wings

olive oil for cooking

1 teaspoon caraway seeds

150g ricotta

1 teaspoon chopped chives

To finish

4 asparagus spears, trimmed

extra virgin olive oil

freshly cracked black pepper

To prepare the asparagus for the soup, snap off the woody ends of the spears and peel the lower end of the stalks. Finely chop the asparagus. Heat a heavy-based saucepan over a medium heat and add a drizzle of olive oil. Add the onion, season with a little salt and sweat gently for 2–3 minutes to soften. Meanwhile, bring the chicken stock to the boil in another pan.

Add the asparagus to the onion and sweat together over a high heat for 1–2 minutes. Pour in enough of the hot stock to just cover the asparagus. Simmer for 5–6 minutes until the asparagus is just cooked, adding a little more stock to keep it covered if needed. Add the spinach and cook very briefly until it just wilts.

Tip the soup into a blender and blitz until smooth. Taste and adjust the seasoning. Unless serving hot straight away, transfer to a bowl and cool quickly over another bowl of ice to preserve the lovely vivid green colour, then cover and refrigerate.

Heat the oven to 180°C/Gas 4. For the garnish, put the chicken wings into a bowl, drizzle with olive oil and toss to coat. Sprinkle with salt, pepper and the caraway seeds. Heat a large non-stick ovenproof frying pan over a medium-high heat and add a drizzle of olive oil. Add the chicken wings and colour for 3–4 minutes on each side. Transfer the pan to the oven for 8–10 minutes until the wings are cooked through. Set aside to cool slightly.

Once cooled, pull the meat from the bone. Tear into strips and put into a bowl with the ricotta and chives. Mix together and season with salt and pepper to taste.

When ready to serve, trim the 4 raw asparagus spears (as above), then cut lengthways into fine slices, using a sharp knife. Rub with extra virgin olive oil and season with salt and pepper. If serving the soup hot, reheat it gently.

Divide the soup between bowls and top each portion with a generous spoonful of the ricotta mixture and the raw asparagus slices. Top the ricotta with a sprinkling of cracked pepper and drizzle a little extra virgin olive oil around the soup.

What to drink: not the easiest dish to match with wine. I think I'd probably go for an Albarino or a young, unoaked Austrian Grüner Veltliner but a Sancerre should work well too.

Recipe from: Kitchin Suppers by Tom Kitchin (Quadrille, £20). Photograph: Laura Edwards. Another recipe I'm tempted to cook from the book is the smoked salmon and spinach lasagne though it's Tom's wife Michaela's rather than Tom's.