WHY THIS RECIPE WORKS:
Often served as a starter, miso soup is a Japanese restaurant standard. Though there are several types of miso available, white miso is traditionally used for this soup, and two types of sea vegetables are integral ingredients: wakame and kombu. Miso soup is common in Japanese homes, too, where it’s considered a comfort food, akin to our chicken soup. When it is served in a restaurant, miso soup is rarely judged, but it doesn’t take a connoisseur to appreciate its subtleties and finer points. Bad miso soup is immediately identifiable as overly salty, with a one-dimensional flavor that is sometimes compensated for with the addition of monosodium glutamate. Our miso soup is alive with complex layers of sweet, smoky, briny, and earthy flavors, and it is a pleasure to sip. Just as chicken soup has a base of chicken stock, miso soup has a base called dashi, which means “broth” in Japanese. We made our basic dashi from a simple combination of water, kombu (kelp), and dried bonito flakes (bonito is a type of fish). But unlike chicken stock, we made our dashi in less than 20 minutes. We then added the miso to the strained dashi, and with the addition of wakame and tofu, plus a sprinkling of scallions, our soup was complete.
SERVES: 8 to 10
TOTAL TIME: 30 minutes
INGREDIENTS:
DASHI:
- 8 cups water
- ¼ ounce kombu
- 2 cups bonito flakes
SOUP:
- 1 tablespoon wakame
- 1 cup white miso
- 8 ounces silken tofu, cut into ½-inch pieces
- 3 scallions, sliced thin
INSTRUCTIONS:
- FOR THE DASHI:
- Bring water and kombu to rapid simmer in a large saucepan over medium heat.
- When water reaches a rapid simmer, discard kombu and turn off heat.
- Stir in bonito flakes and let sit for 3 to 5 minutes.
- Strain dashi through fine-mesh strainer into a large bowl.
- Reserve 1 cup dashi and return remaining dashi to the saucepan.
- FOR THE SOUP:
- Soak wakame in cold water until softened, about 15 minutes.
- Drain and reserve.
- Whisk miso and reserved 1 cup dashi in a small bowl until combined.
- Bring dashi in saucepan to simmer over medium-high heat, then stir in miso mixture.
- Return to a brief simmer and immediately remove saucepan from heat.
- MEANWHILE, WHILE SOUP IS HEATING:
- Divide tofu and wakame evenly among individual serving bowls.
- Ladle soup into bowls.
- Sprinkle with scallions.
- Serve immediately.
