Miso soup is always a win-win option. In 5 minutes in the kitchen you get:
- light dinner: always tasty, quite satisfying, good balance of nutrients
- fermentation = gut health
- options: you can always add more silk tofu, shiitake and other mushrooms, even frozen syfood
Miso soup reverently bears the name of its main ingredient — miso soy paste. Miso paste occupies almost as important a place in Japanese culture and cooking as rice. And for health, it plays an important role.
Miso paste is a fermented soy bean mousse with the addition of koji yeast starter (Aspergillus oryzae) and a grain base made from rice or barley.
Different regions and with different traditions and origins produce different miso paste. Traditionally, the paste has a light yellow to almost black color, salty or sweeter in taste. The darker the paste, the richer the taste will be.
Once, in an interview with one of the Japanese chefs, I read the following:”What is the main thing in making miso soup? Do not let the soup boil, otherwise the seaweed kombu will add a bitter taste to the broth, and the rest of the products, on the contrary, will lose their characteristic taste. We prefer not to overload the classic miso soup with ingredients and only put tofu, wakami seaweed and green onions. Sometimes egg or mushrooms are added“.
I wrote a little more about miso paste in the recipe for tuna in miso.
For the simplest, basic (and very tasty, self-sufficient) recipe you will need:
- 3 tbsp. dark miso paste (I use dark rice Clearspring), if you take light - 4 tbsp.
- 600-650 ml of water
- 3-4 tbsp dry seaweed wakam
- fish sauce 1-2 tsp (optional, but as for me with it — means more balance of flavors)
- 2-4 green onion feathers
- 1 tsp sesame seeds (optional)
- 50-100 g silk tofu (optional)
Heat the water in a saucepan. In hot but not boiling water, add miso. I love the rich taste, so I add 3 tbsp. dark miso paste, start with 1.5 tbsp, stirring gently, dissolve the pasta, try if not very saturated — add more. The main thing is not to boil. Pour in fish sauce, add wakame.
You can put the soup on a slow fire, but you can not let it boil. If you add mushrooms or syfood, we do it at this stage. Cover, let stand for 5-7 minutes, until the algae are completely soaked and straightened.
Give it a try. (If you suddenly oversalt - add a little water, if unsalted - add miso paste or more fish sauce to taste). Finely chop the green onions, silk tofu into cubes.
In miso soup you can add a pinch of sesame (white or black - it does not matter), you can sprinkle with sesame oil (optional), but these are already western options. My favorite winter breakfast supplement is basic miso soup on dark paste only with wakame and green onions.
Heat the water in a saucepan. In hot but not boiling water, add miso. I love the rich taste, so I add 3 tbsp. dark miso paste, start with 1.5 tbsp, stirring gently, dissolve the pasta, try if not very saturated — add more. The main thing is not to boil. Pour in fish sauce, add wakame.
You can put the soup on a slow fire, but you can not let it boil. If you add mushrooms or syfood, we do it at this stage. Cover, let stand for 5-7 minutes, until the algae are completely soaked and straightened.
Give it a try. (If you suddenly oversalt - add a little water, if unsalted - add miso paste or more fish sauce to taste). Finely chop the green onions, silk tofu into cubes.
In miso soup you can add a pinch of sesame (white or black - it does not matter), you can sprinkle with sesame oil (optional), but these are already western options. My favorite winter breakfast supplement is basic miso soup on dark paste only with wakame and green onions.
