Recipe: Japanese Miso Soup (Miso-shiru)

My children loves miso soup A LOT, whenever we visit the Japanese restaurant it would always be the first thing that they go for. Back at home, it's no different.... whenever I tell them that I am making miso soup, they would shout out in glee "Mummy, I want one bowl please!". It is incredibly easy to make, and is a great accompaniment even for our Chinese dinners.

We love Miso Soup!

Miso soup (miso-shiru) is made from dashi stock, miso paste and other added ingredients according to personal preference; I like to add tofu, super grade wakame, Shiitake mushrooms and scallions. Super grade wakame is a type of premium seaweed and is said to have a nutritional value 30 times higher than land vegetables and it will contribute to your health, well-being and radiant facial appearance.

Miso soup using pure miso paste contains many nutritional values such as excellent source of dietary fibre, protein, minerals and vitamin K. According to Wikipedia, researchers at Japan's National Cancer Centre suggested "eating three or more bowls of miso soup everyday could cut women's risk of developing breast cancer". Miso paste however is quite high in sodium; the original recipe actually suggested adding 50g miso paste to the dashi, however I have decreased the amount to half as I deemed it flavorful enough.

Baby C's favorite soup :)

Usually I would use either red (akamiso) or mixed (awase) miso paste. There is a miso paste brand called "Marukome Boy" which contains dashi already, so all you need to do is add it to water. Or you can also make dashi from scratch or using the sachets if you have more time.

We had a Japanese-themed lunch one afternoon... ebikko sushi, miso soup and Hokkaido cupcakes.

Japanese traditional miso soup (miso-shiru)
Recipe by Baby Sumo, slightly adapted from Japanese Bible
Preparation time: 5 minutes
Cooking time: 5-10 minutes
Serves 2-3

Ingredients
450ml dashi stock II  or use sachets (recipe here)
1 1/2 tbsp red or awase miso paste
125g firm silken tofu
2 Shiitake mushrooms, soaked and finely sliced
1-2 tsp super-grade wakame
2 tbsp finely chopped spring onions

1. Place 2 tbsp of the dashi in a small bowl, add the miso paste and blend until smooth.

2. Place remaining dashi in a saucepan over medium high heat and bring just to the boil, then reduce to a low simmer. Spoon the miso mixture into the simmering stock, stirring continuously to dissolve the miso paste. Add shiitake mushrooms, tofu and wakame and cook for 2 minutes.

3. Ladle soup into bowls. Sprinkle with spring onions and serve immediately.

*This recipe was featured on Asian Food Channel's FB page on 5 March 2013.