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Daily Life

There were about 85,250 Japanese Canadians in 2005. More than 53,000 of them are of mixed ancestry, which means that their heritage is Japanese as well as another culture. Japanese Canadians live, work, learn, play, and eat much like other Canadians. There are special Japanese dishes, but this doesn't mean that Japanese Canadians eat sushi every day. Still, in more traditional homes, families start a meal with miso shiru or miso soup.

Recipe

Miso Shiru (Miso Soup)

Ingredients

1 tofu cake, cut into small cubes
3 green onions, thinly sliced
1.5 litres (6 cups) of dashi (stock)
65 ml (1/4 cup) miso paste (available in Asian grocery stores and health food stores)

Directions

Dissolve miso paste in dashi. Add tofu. Bring soup to boil and turn off heat. Add green onions and serve.

Dashi

Ingredients

1.5 litres (6 cups) of water
12.7 cm square piece of konbu (a dry, coarse seaweed)

Directions

Clean both sides of the konbu by rubbing it with a wet cloth. Put water into a pot with konbu and bring to a boil. Remove konbu immediately.