Leslie's Spare Rib Soup

Leslie made this soup. It was really yummy. The following is the recipe I got from her . . . red parts are her words.

My mom gave me this recipe...I never really followed it though

Spare Rib Soup

1 1/2 lbs thin sliced spare ribs, Cut into small pieces, leave bone in!
1 pkg nishime konbu (1-1/2 ounce)
6 medium shiitake (I used the already sliced shiitake mushrooms that come in a package)4 cup water
4 cup dashi (4 cups water with 1packet of hondashi) or 2 cans chicken broth
squash (I used half of the big oval green one)2 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon shoyu

Wash konbu, tie into loose knots, cut between knots. Soften shiitake in water remore stems, cut into fourths. (If using the sliced ones, just add them to the pot) Peel squash and cut into cubes.
Put spareribs, konbu and shiitake in saucepan with 4 cups of water. Bring to a rapid boil, remove scum and bubbles as they appear on surface. Continue cooking under medium heat for an hour. When spare ribs are soft, remove and set aside ribs, konbu and shiitake. Strain liquid. (I didn't do this, I was too lazy) Pour strained stock back into saucepan and add 4 cups of dashi or chicken broth, and let it come to a boil. Add ribs, konbu, squash and mushrooms back into saucepan and bring to a boil. Add seasonings and adjust to your taste.

(Look, my mom didn't strain the liquid either! --->) I didn't drain the liquid. Just leave it in the refrigerator overnight and scrape off the fat. (I didn't even do this, I should've though, it was a bit oily that night) I also used both dashi and chicken broth. (I ended up adding 1 can chicken broth in the end so it didn't end up tasting like saimin!)My mom also adds mustard cabbage but I forgot to buy it from the store when I was getting my ingredients! :)