20 min · Fish · Soup · For beginners
Miso Shiru
In German: Misosuppe · In English: Miso soup
For 4 servings · US units
Japanese miso soup with tofu, wakame and spring onion
Miso shiru is the bowl that sits next to the rice at a Japanese breakfast, and it's also on the table in twenty minutes on a weeknight. Dashi made from dried bonito flakes gives it a base; the miso goes in last so its aroma doesn't cook away. Cubes of tofu, soaked wakame and a few rings of spring onion turn it into something warming that still feels light.
Ingredients
- 4¼ cupsas the soup base, freshly made or mixed from instant granulesJapan's basic stock, usually steeped from kombu seaweed and dried bonito flakes: clear, lightly smoky, deeply savoury.Substitute: The closest stand-in is instant dashi in granules or sachets; it is usually saltier and a little flatter, so go easy on further seasoning. For a vegetarian version, soak kombu and dried shiitake in cold water. Chicken or vegetable stock is not a good substitute: it brings its own heavier flavour, and the dish no longer tastes Japanese.Read more
- 2⅛ ozlight or dark; dissolve in a little hot broth firstFermented paste of soybeans, salt and koji, often with rice or barley – salty and savoury, ranging from mild and sweetish to robust depending on the type.Substitute: Korean doenjang comes closest, though it is stronger and coarser in flavour, so use less of it. Soy sauce supplies only salt and umami, not the body and gentle sweetness, so it is no real substitute.Read more
- 7 ozcut into cubes of about 1.5 cmSoy milk curdled and pressed into blocks, mild in flavour and, depending on the type, silky soft to firm enough to slice.Substitute: The types can only partly stand in for each other: firm tofu in place of silken turns grainy in soups and cold dishes and loses its delicacy, while silken tofu falls apart when fried. There is no substitute outside tofu itself.Read more
- ¼ ozdried, soaked and cut small before useDried or salted seaweed that swells into soft, dark green leaves when soaked — tender, slightly slippery, mildly of the sea.Substitute: The closest match is alaria, an Atlantic relative sometimes sold in organic shops as Atlantic wakame; it is a little firmer and needs longer soaking. Other seaweeds such as nori or kombu taste noticeably different and have a quite different texture, and leafy greens like spinach add colour but neither the taste of the sea nor the tender, slippery quality — where wakame is the point of the dish, as in seaweed salad, there is no real substitute.Read more
- 2spring onionthinly sliced, sprinkled on top
- 1 bunchChivesfinely chopped, as an alternative to spring onion (optional)
- 4snow peasbriefly cooked, as a vegetable garnish (optional)
- dusted over before serving (optional)A Japanese seven-spice blend, usually chili, sansho pepper, dried orange peel, sesame and nori, sprinkled over food at the table.Substitute: A homemade mix comes close: chili flakes with toasted sesame, finely grated dried orange peel, a little ground sansho or Sichuan pepper and crumbled nori. Ichimi togarashi or plain chili flakes give only the heat, without the citrus, tingle and nuttiness, so the result is noticeably flatter.Read more
- 1 tbspsesame seedsfor sprinkling (optional)
Method
- Soak the dried wakame in warm water for 10 to 15 minutes, drain it, and cut it into bite-sized pieces if the strands are long.
- Cut the tofu into cubes of about 1.5 cm. Firm tofu works best here because it keeps its shape in the broth.
- Slice the spring onions — or the chives, if you're using them instead — into thin rings and set them aside.
- Heat the dashi in a pot and bring it to the boil. If you're working with instant granules, stir them in until fully dissolved.
- Add any firm vegetables and simmer them for 5 to 10 minutes, depending on what you've chosen, until tender. Put the snow peas in only towards the end and cook them briefly, so they keep their bite and colour.
- Add the tofu and wakame to the broth and heat them through for about 1 minute, no longer.
- Stir the miso paste smooth in a small bowl with a little of the hot broth, then stir it into the pot. Don't let the soup boil after this — take it off the heat just before it comes back to a simmer.
- Ladle the soup into bowls, scatter with spring onion or chives, and, if you like, black sesame or a dusting of shichimi togarashi, then serve hot.
Tips and variations
Pale shiro miso suits clear, mild soups; the darker red akamiso is saltier and tends to go into stronger things like marinades or ramen. For a fully plant-based bowl, use instant vegetable stock or shiitake powder in place of the dashi. Instead of tofu and wakame you can put pumpkin, Chinese cabbage and king oyster mushrooms in the pot, or fry potatoes briefly in oil before adding the broth and round them out with daikon and snow peas. Mirin, soy sauce or fish sauce add more seasoning; fresh chilli rings, Sichuan pepper or shichimi togarashi bring heat. You can skip the pot altogether: dissolve miso in each bowl with boiling water and add tofu and spring onion — or arrange the tofu, wakame and vegetables in the bowls and pour the hot broth over them. To serve, a drop of sesame oil on top, and a bowl of rice alongside as at a Japanese breakfast.
Allergens
Contains: Fish, Soybeans
May contain if you use the optional ingredients: Sesame
Not every ingredient in this recipe has been checked, so nothing is promised as free from.
These notes follow from this recipe's ingredient list. Ready-made products and brands may contain further allergens — please check the packaging yourself.
Something not right?
This recipe was put together from independent sources and checked before publishing. Even so, a mistake can slip through — an amount that does not add up, a step that does not work as written. If you spot something, write to us: we will look into it and put it right.
