I realize that I've never posted a proper recipe on an essential Japanese dish: miso soup. I feel like I've failed you! I mean, after all, this is a food blog that leans toward Japanese home cooking. Plus, it's one of the first dishes I've ever learned to make, and I was a six grader then. Very easy breezy Japanesey indeed.
That summer, my Mom took my sisters and I to her hometown in Hiroshima. We were elated - it was going to be filled with retreats to hot spring resorts, nightly firefly catchings, miserable attempts at hypnotizing dragonflies by circling your finger at their eyes, and fireworks, lots and lots of fireworks. The town was surrounded by mountains and thickets of bamboo, away from the city, so there wasn't anything uber high-tech and glitzy like what most people think of Japan. But there was a lot nature, plus, the air was different. That alone was a treat.
But it couldn't be all lolligaggling and play, oh no. We were going to be missing a lot of Japanese school sessions, so Mom enrolled us in her elementary school so that we be fall behind in the coming fall semester.
Aside from the initial new-kid bullying (fueled by gaijin bullying - what can I say, it was a very secluded town) and physical education class (swimming - ack), attending a real Japanese school was full of fun discoveries. It was very different from the post-lunch silent reading sessions and Draw Squad lessons that I had in an American school. And lots of surprises - did you know? Schools in Japan do not hire custodians - the students have to stay after school and clean the windows and floors, every. single. day. That was certainly new.
Classes were held in block schedule, unlike my school, so that we could fit everything from music (we learned to use the pianica) to morality/ethics. But my favorite was home-ec, which was an upper-class men priviledge. Only the fifth and sixth graders had access to the oh-so-dangerous sewing machines and cooking equipment, as well as the wood carving knife for art class and glass beakers in the science room.
Home ec was held once a week, and my first week, we made our own zokin (floor mopping rags) so that we can wipe the floors during clean up time. And our second week, we learned to make miso soup.
The class was divided into groups of six, and each kid had to bring an ingredient from home - I brought the wakame (seaweed) because that was my favorite part of miso soup. The other kids brought onions, eggs, o-age (fried tofu), white miso, and dried fish for the dashi. The assembly was very, very easy - just follow the directions on the black board, and don't let the soup boil once the miso was in - but let me tell you, I thought that it was the best miso soup, better than my mom's. It was very sweet form the onions and white miso, and perfect for a kid's palate. I was so in love with my miso soup, that When I went back to the states, I made it for my dad for three consecutive days, until he begged me to let him have mom's salty miso soup.
Nowadays, I'm not much of a white miso fanatic. And I don't add eggs in my miso soup as much any more because I don't want Don's cholesterol to get too high. I've also learned to try different ingredients too, so I guess I've grown up a little from those days. Bottom line is, miso soup is so easy that an eleven year old can make it. AND it's very tweakable, to each and every one's liking. So here's a basic pictutorial that you can use to make your very own miso soup!
Dashi (click here to jump to the miso soup recipe)
First you gotta make dashi. Dashi is a seafood-based cooking stock that ubiquitous to Japanese cooking, and can be made super quickly unlike chicken or beef stock. You can make it from little baby sardines called niboshi, kombu, or katsuobushi (bonito flakes). All of these are full of umami and add depth to the miso soup.
Measure the ingredients. 30g of katsuobushi to 1000 mL of water is pretty standard, but you can also add in other ingredients to make a combo dashi. Some people hate it, some people like it.
Bring to a boil. Turn off the heat, and let the broth sit until all the flakes sink.
Then strain. Ta-DAH!
You can make combo dashi with niboshi (dried baby sardines), dried shiitake, and katsuobushi.
Grab a handful of niboshi, about 15g.
Separate the heads and bellies from the rest. That stuff makes the dashi bitter.
Stop looking at me, dammit!
Then chuck the niboshi bodies and a few (2-3) shiitake in with a pot of water, 1000mL to be exact. Let that steep for 30 minutes.
Add 20g of katsuobushi and bring to a boil. Turn off the heat, and let it steep until the katsuobushi sinks. Then strain.
You can boil the leftovers for 15 minutes to get a second steep, which is perfect for hot pots andsoups!
Now you're ready to make miso soup!
Cut up the ingredients. For a cup of miso soup, 1/3 cup of "goods" should be enough, so you only need a handful of tofu and vegetables and what not. You don't want overstuffed miso soup!
If you want to add some wakame in there, drop a pinch in a bowl of cold water.
When I say a pinch, I really mean a pinch - one serving is about 1g of dry seaweed! It GROWS like some evil sea monster (I know, I'm easily amused)!
Bring all the ingredients except the wakame to a boil. Tofu becomes fluffier this way, the vegetable will cook through.
Bust out your miso! If you like sweet miso soup, you can use white miso. If salty miso soup is your thing, try red miso. There's also regional misos like hatcho miso and mame-miso (grainy miso), so use what you like! I blend red miso with gochujang and garlic to make spicy miso.
Take a small scoop of miso with your ladel and scoop some of the broth. Take your chopsticks and melt a little at a time, then pour it back into the soup. Repeat until all the miso is gone. Taste, and if it's tasty enough, you're good to go. If it still tastes like it needs a little more flavor, repeat the whole process over.
Take your wakame and wring out the water.
Then keep the miso soup on warm until dinner time! NEVER, EVER bring miso soup to a boil after you add the miso it'll get all grisly and all the delicate flavors of miso will fly off.
And then nom, preferably with a bowl of hot rice!
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{ 3 comments… read them below or add one }
I’m sorry to hear you were bullied for being a gaijin. Let me tell you (though it probably won’t come as a surprise), that kind of behaviour from “native” Japanese towards outsiders isn’t limited to the countryside.
More wakame please! Love lots of it in my miso..slurppp!
I typically turn to the instant dashi. One day I will try this recipe and go for the real deal
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