All about Japanese Miso Soup
Japanese miso soup
Miso soup is an essential item in Japanese cuisine. Japanese people make soup on a daily basis. My mother always cooked miso soup or clear soup whenever she cooked rice. Miso soup consists of 3 components. Dashi stock, miso paste and the ingredients of your choice. Thus making Japanese miso soup is quite simple.
Dashi stock
Regarding Dashi stock, I use dashi powder to make dashi stock here in the Netherlands. Earlier I tried to make homemade dashi stock, but I found the ingredients for dashi stock (dried bonito flakes, dried kelp and dried anchovies or sardines) are rather expensive in Europe. Only Asian supermarkets sell them. Ideally the homemade dashi stock is the best, however, I think dashi powder is sufficient to enjoy miso soup at home.
Miso paste
Miso paste is a staple seasoning in Japanese cooking. It is made by fermented soya beans with salt and koji. It is very nutritious and has a variety of health benefits. Please click buttons below for more detailed information about miso paste and its nutrition.
At Asian supermarket, you see different types of miso paste. Here are some indications.
Shiromiso / white miso : light colored miso paste. In general this has the mild taste.
Akamiso / red miso : Red miso has a longer aging period. It has a rich taste and higher salt content than white ones.
Awasemiso / mixed miso : Awasemiso is generally a mix of both white and red miso. So you can enjoy a more complex taste than a single type of miso.
Each miso paste has different saltiness and flavors. Therefore try less amount than recipe indication first. Add more amount if necessary.
Ingredients of your choice
You can add various ingredients to miso soup. Following are popular ingredients for miso soup.
Vegetables : green onion / aubergine / mushrooms ( enoki, shimeji, shiitake) / Japanese white radish / pumpkin / sweet potato / potato / cabbage / carrot / Chinese cabbage / mitsuba etc.
Others : tofu (not hard tofu) / thin deep-fried tofu / beans curd / seaweed (wakame) / clam / fish / thin slices of pork etc.
In winter my family added slices of pork to miso soup. Then the soup turned to a rich and filling meal-soup called “Tonjiru” or “Butajiru” .
Points to remember
The cooking process is quite simple. Cut or slice your ingredients. Add the ingredients into water or dashi stock. Bring to boil and simmer until the ingredients are tender. Then add miso paste. However, you need to take into consideration when to add your ingredients. You can add tofu or dried wakame seaweed after boiling water or stock as these ingredients hardly need cooking. Add finely chopped green onion or mitsuba just before serving the miso soup as a garnish.
The very important point is that the miso soup should not be boiled once miso paste is added. Otherwise the soup will lose the nice flavor. Hence you need to consider how long to cook the ingredients and when to add them into the soup. Generally speaking root vegetables require a longer cooking time. Freshly eaten or soft ingredients require less cooking time.
Japanese Miso Soup
Ingredients
- 2 cups Water about 400 ml
- 1 teas poon Dashi powder please follow the instruction on the package
- 2 table spoon Miso paste
- The ingredients of your choice
Instructions
- Cut, chop or slice your ingredients. Add the water to a pan. If your ingredients are root vegetables, add them to the water. Bring to boil and simmer until the ingredients are tender.
- Add dashi powder and stir gently. If your ingredients are tofu or dried seaweed, add them to the soup. Cook for a short time.
- Dissolve miso paste through a fine strainer and check the taste. If necessary, add more miso paste. Don’t boil the soup once miso paste is added. If you use chopped green onion, add just before serving.
Usually miso soup accompanies with the rice. Here is the link “how to cook perfect Japanese rice”
Enjoy this traditional Japanese meal !!