Miso Soup + Dashi

Tonight my daughter and I made miso soup with homemade dashi. Usually when we make miso soup we cheat and just use some store-bought chicken or vegetable broth and add miso, figuring it was good enough, but wow, this was so much better! There is so much complexity to this soup now that it has the smell of the ocean from the kombu and bonito flakes and the salty/savory flavor from the miso. So Delicious! The added bonus is that we don’t feel like we just ate a salt bomb as we often do after eating miso soup at a restaurant.  I think the sodium levels are pretty moderate in this version. Unfortunately I didn’t get pictures, so will have to add them next time I make this.

Miso Soup

• Servings: 6
• Time: about 60 minutes
• Difficulty: medium
• Print

Savory homemade miso soup

Credit: Bon Appetit and Epicurious

Ingredients

Dashi

• 8 cups cold water
• 2 – 6 x 5 inch pieces dried Kombu (a type of seaweed)
• 1 1/2 ounces bonito flakes (about 3 cups)

Miso Soup

• 8 cups of Dashi
• 1/2 cup dried wakame (a type of seaweed)
• 1/3 cup white miso
• 1/2 pound tofu (I like firm tofu), drained and cut into small cubes
• 1/4 cup thinly cut scallions

Procedure

Dashi Instructions:

1.  Pour water into a large saucepan. Add kombu and let sit until kombu softens, about 30 minutes.
2. Bring water and kombu mixture to a slight boil and immediately remove from the heat. Discard the kombu.
3. Add the bonito flakes and carefully stir once to submerge them. The broth will be clearer if you don’t vigorously stir it. Return to a gentle boil, then reduce the heat and simmer gently for five minutes, skimming off any foam that might form.
4. Strain the dashi (broth). You can let it cool and store it in the fridge for a couple of days or use it now to make the miso soup.

Miso Soup Instructions:

1. Pour the dashi into a medium pot and mix in the wakame.
2. Heat the dashi mixture over moderately high heat until hot. While the dashi is heating up remove about 1/2 cup of it and whisk it in a separate bowl with the miso until well combined.
3. Add the tofu and scallions to the broth (dashi). Cook one minute. Turn off the heat.
4. Mix the miso mixture into the soup and serve immediately. Enjoy!

https://healthyseasonalcooking.wordpress.com    March 13, 2018

miso!

Dashi and vegetables before adding the miso mixture

Mixing in the miso.

Spoonful of umami heaven!