Bonus Sunday Soup: Japanese Clear Onion Soup

I debated whether or not to post this one today as well, but I made it on the same Sunday as I made the Guinness Soup, so I figured I might as well post it as a bonus soup this week. If you're looking for the main Sunday Soup this week (Quick and Easy Guinness Soup), you can find it on my Facebook wall or on my blog here: http://soupersleuth.blogspot.com/2017/03/sunday-soup-27-quick-and-easy-guinness.html.

This recipe came from: http://www.livingchirpy.com/2015/japanese-clear-onion-soup/

*Pic 1 - Picture from http://www.livingchirpy.com/2015/japanese-clear-onion-soup/

My Variations from Recipe as Written: Instead of the 2 diced onions, 2 diced celery stalks, and 2 peeled/diced carrots called for in the recipe, I sautéed 6 cups of a pre-diced fresh onion/celery/carrot mix, available in the produce section at the grocery store, in sesame oil. And, instead of fresh green onions (which definitely would have been preferable but accidentally got left on the shopping list), I used dried scallions.

General Thoughts: Japanese Clear Onion Soup, even when made at our favorite Japanese restaurants, is basically just broth that is "bammed" up a bit with some mushrooms.  So, I wasn't under any illusions that this recipe was going to be much more than a savory, low-fat, low-cal mixture that I could heat up when I felt hungry between meals, or I wanted to give my tummy something warm. But, even in that respect, this recipe barely delivered...

*Pic 2 - Picture from when I made it

If you examine the recipe, you'll see that one of the final steps is to remove all the veggies (i.e., onions, celery, and carrots) from the soup after simmering (before adding the scallions and mushrooms). Okay, fine, but if you don't have some other use for the (cooked) vegetables, it would be a huge waste of both food and money.

And, to my additional disappointment, in the end, the amount of soup produced by this recipe (yes, I know I only added 6 cups of broth) was somewhat disappointing (at least, what I would consider much less than four servings).  I suppose I could have doubled the recipe, which I do with many of the soups I make, but that would mean doubling the cost to make it, which would not be a great trade in this case.

Polling the Fam: The taste was okay, but not remarkable. If you are looking for a passable Japanese Clear Onion Soup that reminds you of what you get at a Japanese restaurant, this would do it for you, but this soup was really a poor value when you compare how much it made to what it cost to make.

Verdict: Disappointed. (1 star)