Miso Soup
Published Jan. 29, 2023
- Total Time
- 50 minutes
- Rating
- Comments
- Read comments
Ingredients
- 1(5-inch) square kombu (dried kelp)
- 1tablespoon sake
- 1tablespoon mirin
- 5grams wakame (dried seaweed), crushed (¼ cup)
- 2cups loosely packed katsuobushi (often labeled “bonito flakes”)
- 1(14-ounce) package silken tofu, drained
- ¼cup miso (white or red; see Tip), plus more to taste
- 1large scallion, thinly sliced
Preparation
- Step 1
Make dashi, the soup base, by soaking kombu in 4 cups cold water for 15 minutes in a medium pot. Add the sake and mirin and bring to a simmer over high heat. As soon as the water starts to boil, take the pot off the heat, cover and let the kombu steep until the liquid smells like the sea, about 15 minutes.
- Step 2
Meanwhile, in a small bowl, soak the wakame in about 3 inches of cold water until soft, about 15 minutes as well. Drain and set aside.
- Step 3
When ready to serve, remove the kombu from the pot (see Tip). Stir the katsuobushi into the kombu broth, cover and let steep for 1 minute. Strain into a medium bowl, pressing down on the katsuobushi to extract all of the liquid; discard the spent flakes. This is your dashi.
- Step 4
Return the dashi to the pot and add the drained wakame. Scoop the tofu into the pot using a spoon or your hand, leaving it in large chunks. Bring the soup to a boil, then remove from the heat.
- Step 5
Add the miso to a small bowl, then ladle over some of the broth and stir to dissolve. Add the dissolved miso to the pot and gently stir until incorporated. Add the scallion, taste for seasoning (adding more miso if you’d like) and serve immediately.
- White, or shiro, miso is made with a higher proportion of rice, which lends a milder, sweeter flavor, whereas red, or aka, miso, is made with more soybeans, resulting in a bolder, more umami-rich taste and a darker color as well.
- You can discard the simmered kombu or thinly slice it into strips and add to pastas, soups, stews and salads for added vegetal heft.
Private Notes
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Comments
Just made this for lunch, vegan-style by using sesame seeds and a drop of sesame oil instead of bonito flakes, nori instead of kombu, and rice vinegar instead of sake. Used white miso. It’s a very calming soup that was quick to make and perfect for a fall day! I usually have the miso paste much more concentrated, so this was nice and light. Will make it again!
my epiphany with miso soup came when we were freezing in a snow-covered Nara deer park in Japan and felt close to death before we found a little hut place to eat in the park sat down and got miso soup which I had not eaten much before - not only did the broth feel lifesaving - but just watching the expanding-universe-mystery circulation of the miso from the center bottom of the bowl - was like a spiritual experience ever since I hold that the best miso soup exhibits this mystery circulation !
If your bottle says "Aji-Mirin" that literally means Mirin Type and is not true Mirin. It still tastes great but behaves differently. I try to get real mirin, which also has a higher alcohol content. I'm a fan of a bit of Shiitake in my Dashi and 10 or so cleaned Asian Dried Anchovy - way more umami. I'm curious about taking the Kombu to boil? I've always been told to never let it boil as it will release a slime. Anyway, good stuff.
This is an incredible recipe. Some of the ingredients may be slightly hard to come by but finding them is well worth it. This tastes exactly like any great miso soup I’ve ever had at a restaurant, and the method isn’t actually too complicated. Do yourself a favor and make this.
As a Japanese person, we would never add mirin nor sake in the miso soup. Kombu should be in the cold water longer, and soon as it starts to simmer take it out, then put the katsuobushi - let is simmer for 30 seconds ish and then take it out. That's dashi. Then add miso at the end after whatever ingredients you use are cooked through.
If you want a treat, sear large scallops cut horizontally and add them and pan juices.