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eomiya@wpo.borland.comTraditional Japanese Miso SoupIngredients (use vegan versions): 1 quart water
8 tablespoon miso (more or less to taste)
2 teaspoon dried cut wakame
1/2 cup chopped daikon (Japanese radish), optional but recommended
1/2 cup carrots, optional
1/2 small onion, optional
tofu, chopped into small cubes, optional
chopped green onions
Directions:Serves: 4-8.
Preparation time: 15-20-30 minutes.
Wakame is a strong seaweed. It is too strong for some people who have not grown up with it. Here is a great way to enjoy it. First a warning about wakame, it expands to many, many times its dry size when re-hydrated. Be very conservative the first time you use it. Most health food and Japanese/Asian stores sell it already cut into little 3/4 squares and dried into tiny crumbles. This is the best kind to use. If you buy it in sheet form you will have to hydrate it and then cut it into squares which adds time to the recipe.
Bring the water to a slow boil. Put the wakame in the water and let it slowly simmer for 20 minutes. The longer you simmer it the less sharp its taste will be. If you are cooking daikon, carrots, or onions, put them in for around the last 10 minutes for onions and daikon and about the last 5-6 minutes for the carrots. I slice the daikon into half moons fairly thin. The thicker the cut the longer the daikon takes to cook. Most Japanese people like their daikon pretty soft in miso soup.
Now comes the miso. There are many, many kinds of miso. The white miso sold in many stores is akin to white rice. Brown miso is akin to brown rice. Which you use is entirely up to your taste and nutritional inclinations. I personally feel (not backed up by anything but my own opinion) that the brown miso is healthier but the white miso tastes better. Some people feel hatcho miso is the best nutritionally. Your mileage will vary.
Once the vegetable mixture is cooked, make sure it is cooking at a slow simmer. Heres a little secret. Take a small strainer and place it just in the soup. Take spoonfuls of miso and mash them through the strainer into the soup. This is way better than plopping miso into the pot and trying to distribute it evenly. Many people feel that cooking miso destroys the favorable digestive enzymes. But two people who'se opinions I really respect are in favor of cooking the miso into the soup for a short period of time (1 minute). If you are using tofu, put it in now, you neednt cook it, just get it up to soup temperature.
Garnish with the chopped green onions and serve. My mother always gave me miso soup when I was sick. Its the modern day vegetarians chicken soup.
If you want to have miso soup over a few days, put miso only in the portion of the vegetable soup that you wish to eat at that time. It keeps better without the miso in it. Traditionally, Japanese people have miso soup more in the morning than the evening so you may want to experiment with having this for breakfast with a little rice and pickled vegetables. Enjoy!
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Archived comment by: susan
thank you for the recipe - i was looking for a traditional recipe. i also appreciate the detail, accuracy and honesty of your comments.
It smelled really good, but I was kinda disappointed in the flavor. It tasted almost sweet and nothign like what I expected. Everyone else liked it though, so maybe I'm just picky.
I'd recommend using the dasrker miso because the white one turned out too bland for me. Thanks for the detail in your recipe!
Archived comment by: junathena
Great recipe! I love all the veggies and the daikon is a must. I didn't have a little strainer so I mixed the Miso with a little broth from the soup in a mixing cup until it was smooth...like corn starch. That worked very well. I also found out from the lady at the oriental food store that Miso will keep in the refrigerator for up to 2 years!
Archived comment by: mslayter
