A Simple Miso Soup - Recipe

Now that I am the proud owner of a stash of Japanese ingredients I wasted no time in putting them to good use. One of the things I had been craving was a really good, simple miso soup. In Tokyo I was surprised at the variety of miso soups they serve, some came with fish, others with the smallest clams I had ever seen, and each one seemed to have a slightly different dashi base.

Here´s my interpretation of a simple miso soup. Warm, soothing and full of that wonderful umami taste. I decided not to make my own dashi stock from scratch as I was feeling a little lazy but I used Ajinomoto Hon-Dashi granulated dashi stock instead. To it I added some white miso paste and garnished with some wakame and silken tofu. I would also have added some sliced spring onion but I didn´t have any in the fridge.

L-R: white miso paste, dashi stock, wakame

Close-up of the dried wakame

Miso soup with tofu and wakame

Such a simple and satisfying soup. One of my favourites. All I need now are some of those beautiful lacquered wooden miso soup bowls.

Ingredients (serves 2)

4 cups of water

2 tbsp white miso paste

1-2 tsp instant dashi powder

2-3 tsp dried wakame

150g silken tofu

1 spring onion, thinly sliced

Method

1.  Bring the water to boil in a saucepan

2.  Add the instant dashi powder and stir

3.  Add the miso paste and stir, letting it dissolve into the liquid

4.  Add the wakame and leave for 1 minute to soften

5.  Cut the tofu into blocks and place into two soup bowls

5.  Pour the soup over the tofu and garnish with the spring onions