TIP OF THE DAY: Make Miso Soup
 [1] An easy version of traditional miso soup, made with instant dashi (photo courtesy Sushi Lounge | NJ).
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If you’re a fan of miso soup, you don’t have to head to a Japanese recipe to enjoy a bowl. You can make it at home. Miso soup is made with 4 main ingredients: water, miso (fermented soybean paste), seaweed, and a garnish of small tofu cubes. Miso is such a great ingredient, that we’ve written three articles on it: It may seem like an obscure ingredient to buy just for soup, but it’s affordable, incredibly healthy and can be used in many other recipes like soups, salad dressings, marinades, and other Asian-inspired dishes. This recipe is even easier than traditional miso soup, because it uses dashi granules instead of requiring that you make dashi stock from scratch. Think vegetable bouillon granules instead of vegetable stock. With the granules or a dashi bouillon cube, the soup will be ready in 10 minutes. When you have time, try a recipe that uses homemade dashi stock, made from fish and kelp.
1. ADD the water into a pot and bring to a boil. Add the instant dashi; whisk to dissolve. Turn the heat to medium-low and add the tofu and seaweed. Simmer for 2 minutes. While the soup simmers… 2. SPOON the miso paste into a bowl. Ladle 1/2 cup of the hot dashi broth into the bowl and whisk until the miso paste melts and is the mixture smooth. 3. TURN off the heat and add the miso paste to the pot. Stir well. Taste the soup and whisk in another 1-2 tablespoons of miso paste as desired. Garnish with green onions and serve immediately. If you can’t find dashi at the store, try this simple broth with miso paste, a recipe from Pasta Fits. It’s a lighter take, but has the same garnishes as conventional miso soup: chopped scallions and a small dice of tofu—plus added broad egg noodles for a Japanese riff on that all-American favorite, chicken noodle soup. It also adds fresh minced ginger—a Japanese ingredient, although not necessarily in soup. This recipe uses instant chicken broth. There’s no true substitute for dashi flavor, but if you want a deeper flavor, you can add, to taste: Cook time is 15 minutes. |
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Ingredients For 4 Servings 1. DIVIDE the noodles among four 2-cup Mason jars. 2. DIVIDE the miso paste, ginger, nori strips, tofu cubes, green onions and chicken broth among the jars. Seal and refrigerate. When ready to eat… 3. POUR 1 cup of boiling water into each jar. Stir until the miso and broth have dissolved. Let stand for 5 minutes before serving.
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