Ingredients

• 2 teaspoons sesame or olive oil
• 1 package of unflavored mochi, cut into 1" by 2" rectangles
• 1 sprinkle of shoyu
• 2 stalks of celery, chopped into inch-long pieces
• 1/2 of a daikon, cut into nice, large chunks
• 1/4 of a Kaboucha squash, cut into large chunks
• 2 shiitake mushrooms, cut into small pieces
• 1/2 of a bunch of kale (separate the leaves from the stalks...chop the stalks up into 1/2 -1 inch pieces..leave the leaves however they are)
• 4 teaspoons teaspoons Miso (half barley, half a lighter one like chickpea)

Directions

1. Heat the oil in a cast-iron or stainless steel frying pan over medium heat.
2. Place the mochi pieces into the pan, making sure they don
3. Cover, and reduce the heat to low (or place the pan on a flame deflector if you have one) and cook for exactly 4 minutes.
4. Flip the mochi, then add about 2 drops of shoyu to each piece.
5. Cover, and let cook for another 4 minutes.
6. The mochi should begin to get gooey, puff up a little, and morph into funny shapes.
7. Set aside.
8. Boil 4-5 cups of water.
9. Chop the veggies while the water is boiling.

10. Once the water comes to a boil, add the daikon and mushrooms.

11. About a minute later, add the celery.

12. A minute after that, add the squash.
13. Make the miso broth (I used mostly barley and a little lite chickpea miso): -Measure out the miso in a little cup, add a little hot soup broth to the cup and dissolve the miso. 

14. Use a fork or spoon to do this (if you add it to the pot before dissolving it, it will just stay one big clump).
15. Add the miso to the pot.

16. Then, add the kale stalks.
17. Put the kale leaves into a serving bowl.
18. Pour the soup on top of the kale (this way the kale leaves don't cook too much, they just get soft nicely).
19. Add the mochi pieces to the soup.