My husband and I went out for dinner at our favorite Japanese restaurant in the area. It was a cold wintery night and as I cupped the steaming savory bowl of miso soup in my hands all I could think was "I want to make Miso Soup like this at home." Why is it so hard to make a Miso soup that tastes just like the wonderful one I get at my favorite Japanese Restaurants? Don’t waste your time on any of those instant miso soup packets from Whole Foods and Trader Joe’s – I’ve tried them all and they just don’t come close to the wonderful warming substance that you get served at the restaurant.
Here’s the deal: You have to make it yourself. The good news is that it is very simple to put together. There are, it must be said, a few oddly named ingredients – things you probably won’t have on hand already, but don’t panic. Go to the Asian food store and buy dried bonito flakes, a piece of dried kelp and wakame. It will be worth it.
This recipe will give you a soup just like the one I had the other night with one big caution - it will be far less salty. I haven't specified any amount for the salt because it will depend on each persons taste preferences. I've eaten this soup with no added salt and liked it and with lots of added salt and liked it too. Depends on your mood, how health conscious you may be feeling among other things.
One other point that bears mentioning… if you want it to taste like the kind at the restaurants use shiro miso (white fermented-soybean paste) and not some other kind of miso. I’ve followed other recipes that say to use whatever kind of miso you want and they produce a fine soup, but it is not the exact same flavor that I was specifically trying to replicate at home. So in this case, where what we are after is duplication, it is worth using this specific type of miso. Once you get used to making it feel free to branch out and try different varieties.
I wanted to see how difficult it would be to find these ingredients so I stopped at a couple of stores to investigate the International Food isle. I found bonito flakes and wakame at Whole Foods, but it took a trip to the Asian Food store near me to find the Kelp and the Shiro Miso. Whole Foods has a variety of misos - barely miso, chickpea miso, red miso, but not the shiro miso I wanted. Miso is refridgerated so you won't find it on the shelf with the soy sauces and the dry noodles. The good news here is that even though you have to track down some of the ingredients they all have a very long shelf life - even the miso, which has to be refridgerated, will last nearly forever. All the dried seaweed and fish will also keep indefinitely.
Dashi is a delicate basic stock, made with dried bonito flakes, that is used extensively in Japanese cooking. Its clarity and flavor can make or break a dish.
Ingredients for Dashi
1 (3 to 4-inch piece) kombu (dried kelp)
6 cups cold water
1 (5-g) package katsuo bushi (dried bonito flakes; 1/2 cup)
to make the Dashi:
Wipe any sand or salt from kombu with a dampened cloth. Bring kombu and water just to a boil in a 2-quart saucepan over high heat. Remove kombu with tongs and reserve for another use.
Sprinkle katsuo bushi over liquid and remove pan from heat. Let stand 3 minutes, then pour through a cheesecloth-lined sieve into a bowl.
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Miso Soup
1/2 cup dried wakame (a type of seaweed)
1/4 cup shiro miso (white fermented-soybean paste)
6 cups dashi
1/2 lb soft tofu, drained and cut into 1/2-inch cubes
1/4 cup thinly sliced scallion greens
salt to taste
Prepare wakame: Combine wakame with warm water to cover by 1 inch and let stand 15 minutes, or until reconstituted. Drain in a sieve.
Make soup: Stir together miso and 1/2 cup dashi in a bowl until smooth. Heat remaining dashi in a saucepan over moderately high heat until hot, then gently stir in tofu and reconstituted wakame. Simmer 1 minute and remove from heat. Immediately stir in miso mixture and scallion greens and serve. __Serves 6.
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