perfect miso soup

[bouche]

a pinch of dried wakame

120 g soft tofu in small cubes

400 ml water

1/2 tsp dashi powder

1 1/2 tbsp miso paste (best quality you can find)

1 green onion sliced thinly

soak the wakame in water. place water in a pot on the stove and set to medium. mix dashi powder in heating water. add miso paste and dissolve. add tofu and wakami. garnish with green onions

serves 2-4

[Ms Zimmy]

I learned that boiling the water, taking it off the stove, then adding the miso is best, if you boil the miso paste, it will break down all the nutrients, and miso has so many nutrients.

Dashi is derived from fish...so if you are veg, just omit the dashi.

[Hux]

Why not throw in some clams?

[Ms Zimmy]

And mushrooms

[bouche]

you can throw in whatever you want.

I just really needed to get this somewhere before my notes went into the garbage. I have been trying to duplicate miso soup from Korean and Japanese restaurants. But I think the korean ones (where you get bim bim bap and bugolgi bbq beef) have the best. They are always served with the wakami. I had to do some research online and found that dried wakami is very easy to use. The dashi is something I had in the pantry and it really rounds out the miso paste. I found that in many miso soup recipes so I used it as well.

we always just used water and paste, but it is so boring compared to this version.

for the record, I nearly perfected a classic dish last night, Beef with Broccoli. mmmm!

Edited May 29, 2008 by Guest

[phishtaper]

for the record, I nearly perfected a classic dish last night, Beef with Broccoli. mmmm!

mmmmmmmmmmmm. you always have lots of good cookin's. please let us know if the house next door to you ever comes up for sale.

[AdamH]

[snobbery on]

I'm a traditionalist with miso soup, and your ingredients, while good, are not traditional (I know that comes off as snobbish but I accept that).

1. You used dashi powder instead of bonito flakes.

2. You do not have kombu simmered in your stock beforehand

3. As Ms Zimmy says you do not add the miso paste directly. rather, you ladle off some of the boiling stock and dissolve the paste, and add it separately tosering bowls.

[snobbery off]

[bouche]

for the record' date=' I nearly perfected a classic dish last night, Beef with Broccoli. mmmm![/quote']

mmmmmmmmmmmm. you always have lots of good cookin's. please let us know if the house next door to you ever comes up for sale.

our house is up for sale. it is not far from our new house.

[bouche]

[snobbery on]

I'm a traditionalist with miso soup, and your ingredients, while good, are not traditional (I know that comes off as snobbish but I accept that).

1. You used dashi powder instead of bonito flakes.

2. You do not have kombu simmered in your stock beforehand

3. As Ms Zimmy says you do not add the miso paste directly. rather, you ladle off some of the boiling stock and dissolve the paste, and add it separately tosering bowls.

[snobbery off]

you got me on the bonito and kombu. Can you please...please elaborate? What is bonito and kombu? (all internet searches are down at the moment)

I found that the miso mixes in equally well in ladled off boiling stock as well as the same boiling stock in the pot. I really don't understand the difference. It's the same damn temperature and eventual concentration.

[phorbesie]

bonito is a kind of fish. it gets flaked super fine and dried (or vice versa). kombu is another seaweed, pretty much inedible on its own but used to make stock.

i don't know the specifics on the miso but it definitely is made that way...by dissolving it in a small amount of the hot water first.

[Ms Zimmy]

If you boil miso, you break down all the nutrients, and then they are no more. Miso is a super food, but if you boil it, you lose all the goodness.

[bouche]

who said anything about boiling miso? ms zimmy, you be making shit up.

[AdamH]

Ok, Here's a useful video on making dashi: http://www.videojug.com/film/how-to-make-dashi

Kombu = the kelp she calls for. You can get it in Chinatown and at Arum (Bank and Catherine street).

Once you make dashi and heat it to a simmer, I usually add the cubed tofu/wakame/whatever else you want and let that heat through.

Add your Miso paste to this stock and take it off the heat. Or ladle some of the hot broth off to dissolve the paste and pour it back into the pot off the heat.

Yes, it's a tonne of work for a bowl of soup but nothing too complicated.

[bouche]

hey. that's the same lady that I stole the miso method from.