Miso soup is a traditional Japanese dish, made with a stock called dashi, is delicious, nutritious and surprisingly easy to make if you have the authentic ingredients. Miso is a fermented soy bean paste that is used to add a rich flavour to soups. Dashi is stock that is the base of most Japanese soups and can be used instead of water in dishes that require a delicately flavoured stock. This soup is highly regarded in Japan for its health properties.
Cook’s tips:
• Kelp is a kind of seaweed used in many types of Asian cooking.
• Bonito flakes are dried fish flakes and are widely used in Japan. They form the
basis of the dashi’s flavour.
• All the products listed here are available at Chinese supermarkets.
Miso soup
Ingredients
Dashi
- This stock is the base of most Japanese soups and can be used instead of water
- in dishes that require a delicately flavoured stock.
- 3 pieces of dried kelp or dried seaweed (see Cook’s Tips)
- 750ml water
- 125ml (½ cup) dried bonito flakes (see Cook’s Tips)
Miso soup
- 30ml (2 tbsp) miso paste
- 50ml tofu, drained and cut into small cubes
- 4 dried shiitake mushrooms, soaked and sliced
- 20ml (4 tsp) wakame seaweed
- 1 spring onion, thinly sliced
Instructions
To make the dashi, place the kelp and water in a pot over a high heat and bring to just a boil. Remove the kelp and reserve the water.
Sprinkle the bonito flakes over the reserved liquid and remove the pot from the heat. Let the water stand for about 3 minutes, then pour through a sieve lined with muslin into a bowl.
To make the miso soup, add the miso paste and 60ml (¼ cup) of the dashi in a bowl, and stir together until smooth.
Heat the remaining dashi in a pot over a high heat until hot. Gently stir in the tofu, mushrooms and wakame seaweed. Simmer for a minute and then remove from the heat.
Immediately stir in the miso mixture and scatter the spring onion over. Serve while still hot.
