Grandma's Recipes 
福島県 
* Photo is for reference 福島県 ⛄ Winter
Japanese Grandma's Tomato Pork Miso Soup (Tomato Tonjiru)
Tonjiru (pork miso soup) is a beloved comfort food across Japan, but this Fukushima grandmother added her own creative twist: lots of fresh tomatoes. The natural acidity of tomatoes combined with miso creates an unexpectedly harmonious flavor, finished with a touch of mirin for depth.
🧂 Ingredients
servings
* In traditional Japanese grandma cooking, measurements are approximate — think of them as guidelines rather than exact amounts.
| Main Ingredients | |
| Tomatoes | at least 5 |
| Pork | 200g |
| Negi (Japanese green onion) | 1本 (approx. 100〜150g) (Use the green parts too) |
| Seasonings | |
| Miso | enough to half-cover the ladle |
| Mirin (sweet rice wine) | roughly one ladle-full |
👩🍳 Instructions
- 1
Fill a regular pot with water and place on the stove.
- 2
While waiting for the water to boil, cut the ingredients. Chop tomatoes into small bite-sized pieces, and roughly cut the negi. Use the green parts too. Set the tomato and negi aside on a tray.
- 3
Once the water boils, dissolve the miso first. With the plain miso broth ready, add the tomatoes and negi.
💡 Dissolving the miso first is the key step.
- 4
Gently stir with a ladle to blend the miso soup and ingredients together. About 5 minutes.
- 5
Once the tomato and negi flavors have infused the broth, add the pork.
- 6
Cook the pork through, being careful not to overcook -- about 3 minutes is enough, or the meat will toughen.
💡 Overcooking makes the meat tough.
- 7
Once no pink remains on the pork, add the mirin last and gently stir to complete the tomato pork miso soup.
💡 The mirin's richness harmonizes wonderfully with the tomato flavor and miso broth.
📖 Memories & Stories
Grandma was an incredibly creative cook with many original recipes, all remarkably easy to make. One day when I asked what was for dinner, she simply said 'a refreshing miso soup.' Out came this tomato pork miso soup. I wasn't a big tomato fan at the time, but one taste and I was instantly converted. The harmony of miso and tomato was truly surprising. She later taught me the recipe step by step, saying 'it's really simple, want to try?' -- a wonderful memory.
Source: Learned directly from grandmaWritten from memory (Submitted by: ヨシダ)
🍽 Cultural Background
Pork miso soup has roots in hearty miso soups from across Japan, and the pronunciation varies by region. Fukushima is among Japan's top producers of summer-autumn tomatoes, and while adding tomatoes to miso soup has gained recent attention, farming families may have been doing this for much longer. The glutamic acid in tomatoes is said to complement dashi beautifully.
