Japanese Delight: Miso Soup

Japanese delight aka Miso Soup. One of my favorite soups of all time. 

Served piping hot with...floaties...and sinkies. Seaweed, green onions, tofu, maybe a little thinly sliced mushroom...it's delicious, simple, comfort food. 

In my research of the how-to's of making Miso Soup I came across an article that indicated that Miso Soup is to the Japanese what Chicken Noodle Soup is to Americans, a big, fat bowl of comfort and everybody's mom makes it a little differently. 

I was ecstatic and trepidatious to give it a shot. In my readings I found out that you needed to first make the Dashi, and that you needed seaweed and Bonito Fish Flakes. Dashi is the preliminary broth, it is the simplest of things to make but required two things that were not in my cupboards: fish flakes and seaweed. The hunt was on.

As most of you may know, Amazon.com has almost anything you could possibly want to buy, so they were my first stop, one stop, shop for the Bonito flakes. As to the seaweed, at the time, I didn't realize I needed the thicker stuff, and I had just bought a huge package of the Kirkland Roasted Seasoned packs of snacking seaweed, so I shredded it up by hand and tossed it in with the Bonito Flakes to make the Dashi. I'm still planning on using the proper seaweed, Kobuku, but this worked beautifully well as a substitute. 

The recipe below does not use the homemade, from scratchy-scratch Dashi. I used fish sauce and Tamari to make the broth, but I am including the Dashi recipe as well so you can decide how you want to roll it out. Both versions are delicious.

 My basic ingredients for Miso Soup, plus a few extras just for info.

 My Bonito Flakes

Miso Soup: Simplified: Tracy Davidson

8 C. Water (in lieu of making your own Dashi, which is not complex but does take a few minutes to do, I will include the recipe for Dashi below)

4 Tbsp. Three Crabs Viet Huon Fish Sauce

2 Tbsp. Tamari, Gluten Free Soy Sauce

1 Tbsp. Minced Garlic (I use the large Costco bottle of this stuff and just scoop it out)

1 Bunch Green Onions finely chopped

2 Tbsp. thinly sliced and chopped Red Onion

1/3 C. Fresh Mushrooms, thinly sliced: I used baby Portabellos because it’s what I had on hand.

2 heaping Tbsp. Cold Mountain Light Yellow Miso (Japanese Style Shiro Miso)

½ Container of Extra Firm Tofu, drained and cubed

Bring water, fish sauce, and soy sauce to a low boil, add in garlic, 2/3 of the green onions, red onions and mushrooms. Let simmer 15 minutes. Lower the heat so it is under a simmer but still piping hot. Stir in Miso until fully dissolved. Do not boil the Miso as it has healthy bacteria in it that are good for the belly. If you boil it, you will kill these and lose the benefits. Once the miso is completely dissolved, add in the tofu and the remainder of the green onions. Keep it on low heat until ready to serve.

This soup is rich in Umami or “delicousness”…this is a really great thing. Now go get some. 

http://somethingnewfordinner.com/culinary-concepts/culinary-concepts-umami/ 

Here is a partial list of umami-rich foods:

Anchovies, asparagus, balsamic vinegar, carrots, catsup, celery, aged cheese (particularly Parmesan, Emmental and blue cheeses), chicken, corn, dried beans, edamame, eggs, garlic,  green tea, hoisin, kimchee, konbo, marmite, meat, miso, onions, potatoes, prosciutto and other dry-cured meats, red peppers, red wine, salmon, sardines, shellfish, sauerkraut  soy sauce, spinach, sweet potatoes, Thai fish sauce, tofu, tomatoes (particularly the seeds), walnuts and Worcestershire sauce.

Dashi:  I've included two great links to how-to's and background information. If you really want to master the Dashi, these will be helpful.

• http://www.seriouseats.com/recipes/2009/10/how-to-make-dashi-asian-miso-soup-bonito-flakes-kelp-kombu.html
• http://www.lafujimama.com/2010/01/how-to-make-dashi/

The Dashi is really simple, and really easy to make. It requires three ingredients: Bonito Flakes, Water & Kombu Seaweed. In my one instance of making Dashi from scratch I didn't have Kombu so I used what I had, this is the recipe I am including below. Dashi made with Kombu Seaweed is next on my list.

8 C. Water
2 C. Dried Bonito Flakes
3-4 Sheets of Kirkland Roasted Seasoned Seaweed, crushed directly into the water...this will make your hands messy so prepare your mind.

Bring water to a boil, then add in all ingredients and turn down to a simmer. Simmer for 10 minutes. Using a strainer, filter out the bonito and seaweed. What you have left is your Dashi, proceed to make your Miso soup.