Cookbook | Ingredients | Recipes 

| Soup | Cuisine of Japan
Miso soup

In traditional Japanese cuisine, miso soup is served for breakfast every day, and often served with meals as well.

Variant One

Ingredients

  • 1/2 tsp. of sesame oil
  • 3 cups of water
  • 2 Tbsp. of miso
  • 2 green onions, finely minced (optional)
  • 1/2 cake tofu, cut into 1/2 inch cubes (optional)
  • 2-3 fresh mushrooms, thinly sliced (optional)
  • 5-6 shrimp, cubed or shredded (optional)
  • Some pieces of seaweed (optional)

Procedure

  1. Heat oil in the bottom of a small pot
  2. Add green onion (if using)
  3. Cook for a few minutes while stirring frequently
  4. Add 2 1/2 cups of water
  5. Bring to a boil
  6. Dissolve miso in 1/2 cup of water and add to pot
  7. Lower heat and add mushrooms, seaweed & tofu if desired

Enjoy!

Variant Two

Ingredients

  • 90% to 94% dashi (consider using instant dashi mix)
  • 6% to 10% miso. It can be aka (red) or shiro (white), or a combination.
  • odds and ends for garnish

The garnish would typically be two to three items that contrast in color, flavor, buoyancy, shape, texture, etc. Wakame with tofu is a standard and popular combination, especially at restaurants. Some common items for garnish are:

Procedure

  1. Put dashi in a pot.
  2. Add any garnish that needs cooking.
  3. Heat the dashi, letting it simmer, cooking any garnish that needs cooking. Do not bring to a rolling boil, as this degrades the flavor.
  4. Add any garnish that does not need cooking, and remove from heat.
  5. Add the miso to the soup. Avoid boiling the miso; some nuances of the flavor will be lost.

Modern Variant

While certainly a traditional food, miso is also suited to modern interpretations. One non-traditional yet delicious way to make miso soup is as follows:

  1. Heat frying oil in a small pot
  2. Fry onions and cabbage in the oil over high heat until browned. A slight degree of burning is acceptable.
  3. Proceed with the traditional method listed above.

Using oil leftover from frying bacon and caramelizing the sugars in the onion and cabbage through high heat, this method produces a soup notably different from the traditional variety, and can add new interest to a classic dish. A small quantity of freshly ground black pepper added just before serving rounds out this method very well.

Simple Restaurant Miso

This miso soup is a close approximation of what you get in most cheap western Japanese restaurants. All ingredients are to taste; the primary thing is the ratio of miso to dashi.

Ingredients

  • Dashi (roughly 250ml or 1 cup per person for a typical restaurant portion)
  • Wakame, 5 or so pieces per person (Wakame is a form of edible seaweed, sold in dry curls at most Asian markets)
  • Traditional tofu (medium firmness), a few one centimeter cubes per person
  • Miso paste, either white, red, or a mixture (many restaurants in western Canada use white miso, also called shiro miso)

Procedure

  1. Heat the dashi to a light simmer
  2. While this is heating, lay out your bowls and place the wakame and tofu in the bottom
  3. When the dashi simmers, take a ladle or so of liquid aside and mix into it approximately 1 tablespoon (about 15ml) of miso paste per cup of dashi stock
  4. Remove the pot of dashi from the stove and stir the miso prepared above into it
  5. Ladle some of the prepared miso into the bowls and serve

Notes

  • Some prefer less miso, some prefer more. The quantity given results in the moderately-salty type popular in restaurants before meals.
  • Do not permit the miso to boil; doing so alters the flavour
This article is issued from Wikibooks. The text is licensed under Creative Commons - Attribution - Sharealike. Additional terms may apply for the media files.