How to make Miso soup (basic)

Using the broth that we made previously, we can start to take the most popular soup from Japanese restaurants to another level.  After you learn the basic soup, you can create and customize your own with different ingredients!

It’s hearty and warm, and great when it’s cold outside. 
But first, we need to know more about miso.  Let me see what Wikipedia says…

Miso is a traditional Japanese seasoning produced by fermenting soybeans with salt and koji (the fungus Aspergillus oryzae) and sometimes rice, barley, or other ingredients. The result is a thick paste used for sauces and spreads, pickling vegetables or meats, and mixing with dashi soup stock to serve as miso soup called misoshiru (味噌汁), a Japanese culinary staple. High in protein and rich in vitamins and minerals, miso played an important nutritional role in feudal Japan. Miso is still widely used in Japan, both in traditional and modern cooking, and has been gaining worldwide interest.
Typically, miso is salty, but its flavor and aroma depend on various factors in the ingredients and fermentation process. Different varieties of miso have been described as salty, sweet, earthy, fruity, and savory. (by Wikipedia)

So there are so many different kinds of miso out there.  How do we choose the one that we like?
You have to try and choose whatever suits your tongue.
As growing up in an area that mostly uses Awase miso (mixed), I use that for anything that calls for miso. 
So anyways,
Let’s make basic miso soup.


1. Bring 2 cups of water to a boil.  And this time, I used a Dashi powder so I can be lazy ;)  I used 2.5 gram of “Sozai Chikara Dashi–Konbu.”



2. I could have done this beforehand, but I choose to do it while the water is coming to a boil.  Bring seaweed to life!  Seaweed is filled with so many health benefits I tend to have more whenever I can! 
two heaping little spoons of Wakame (seaweed) would do.  Soak them in room temp water for a while.  It does not take too much time to become…

something like this!

And for another ingredient, I can’t think of anything else but soft silken tofu.

3. Dice it into whatever size you want.  My daddy liked to scoop and drop it so it looked more wholesome and rustic.  But I diced it pretty small this time.
And I squeezed the excess water from the Wakame and threw both the Wakame and tofu in the boiling water. 



4. So Finally miso!  I used Organic Miso from Nagano, Japan. 



5. A big spoon of miso goes a long way!
Turn the heat off.  Then, melt the miso into the pot.  (I would recommend using a little strainer to melt the miso in since you don’t want any lumps in your miso soup.) 



6.  Heat the soup to boil, but do not let it boil for a long time.  We just need to reheat it, otherwise, you’ll lose the subtle miso and other ingredients’ flavor.



Serve and enjoy before it gets cold.  I would have this every morning. 



It is ready!  yum yum!  This is great with a bowl of rice and tamago which will be next on our agenda to cover!