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Pork Belly, Watercress and Lemon Miso Soup

Makes four bowls  

Ingredients

100g pork belly (approx. 5cm wide strip) / or replace with fried tofu (abura-age) ½ sheet
40g watercress
150g daikon
65g miso
One litre dashi (5g kombu and 10g bonito flake)
Roasted sesame oil
Black pepper
½ lemon

Method 

1. Make dashi by soaking kombu in water for at least 30 min before cooking. Put this on heat and bring to just before boil and take the kombu out.
2. Turn the heat off and add bonito flakes. Wait for them to sink to the bottom then run this through a sieve (you can use a colander and clean j-cloth) and this is your dashi done!
3. Thinly slice the pork belly (take the skin off if you bought it with skin). 
4. Peel and slice daikon to five mm thickness, then into either quadrants or rectangles. 
5. Roughly chop the watercress into about five cm.
6. Heat up a tablespoon of sesame oil to cook the sliced pork belly and daikon. 
7. Once the colour changes on the pork belly and the daikon is half cooked (it will turn transparent), add dashi and turn the heat up to high, bringing it to a boil. 
8. Once the soup comes to boil, lower the heat again and scoop up any scum that has formed on the surface of the dashi. 
9. Add miso into the soup (use a mesh colander so the miso dissolves evenly). 
10. Just before serving, add the watercress and squeeze ½ lemon juice. 
11. Serve in small bowls with a twist of black pepper and grated lemon skin.