Kanako's Kitchen

In Japan, there are dozens of variations on miso soup. But if one of them can be called the “standard version”, this is it: a light broth containing bits of tofu, wakame seaweed and green onions.

This is probably the version of Miso soup Western people are most familiar with, since it’s the one almost always served at sushi places. Still, you should remember: this is a miso soup, not the miso soup.

It’s easy to see why this version is so popular, though: simple, delicious, and easy to match with any Japanese dish, it’s always tempting to fall back on this recipe when the time comes to make 1-dish 1-soup.

Ingredients (for two):

• One quarter of a package of tofu (about 100 g)
• Dried wakame seaweed – two tea spoons
• One spring onion
• Miso paste – half a table-spoon per diner
• One tea-spoon of Dashi soup base
• 2/3rds of a cup of water per diner

Preparation:

• Slice spring onions as thin as possible – use the whole thing, not just the white part

Cooking:

1. Bring the water to a boil
2. Add in one tea-spoon of Dashi
3. Add wakame
4. Bring the flame down to low
5. Put the miso into a small strainer and slowly help disolve the miso by stroking it with the fork until fully disolved
6. Discard the hard miso residue that remains behind in the strainer
7. Cut tofu on your hand (to keep it from falling apart)
8. Add tofu
9. Warm again the soup
10. Just before it starts to boil, add spring onions
11. Turn heat off

Whatever you do, never boil miso! A very gentle simmer is ok. Boiling it alters the taste dramatically, for the worse.

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