Miso Soup (with homemade miso)

Miso soup, right? Classic, comforting, and somehow always overlooked when we talk about making Japanese cuisine at home. It's the bridesmaid, never the bride. But man, is it one hell of a bridesmaid. You see, this isn't just a soup, it's a beacon of umami goodness.

Don't let the simplicity fool you. Making miso soup at home, from scratch, it's a bit like being a detective. You start with the dashi - that's your base, your evidence. It's a concoction of seaweed and dried, smoked bonito flakes. Then, you add the miso paste. This is where you're in control of the interrogation room. Go for a white miso for a milder, sweeter profile, or a red miso if you're feeling like taking a walk on the bold side.

Alright, I've one more nugget to share before I disappear into the culinary abyss. Miso soup is like the everyman's soup. It's a blank canvas, ready for tofu, mushrooms, green onions, or whatever else your heart desires. Don't be afraid to make it your own. Personalize that bowl, folks. Because a homemade miso soup isn't just a dish, it's a statement. 🤘🏼Adam

Yield: 1-4 bowls of Miso Soup

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Homemade Miso Soup

Ingredients

Dashi (soup base)

• 4 cups Water
• 1 piece of Kombu (4x4 inch)
• 1 cup Katsuobushi (dried bonito flakes)

Miso Soup

• 1 cup Dashi (see above)
• 1 Tbsp Miso
• 1/2 scallion, thinly sliced
• 1/2 cup soft-medium Tofu, cubed

Instructions

Miso Soup

1. Pour 4 cups of water into a medium saucepan, add the kombu and soak for 30 minutes. Turn the heat on to medium and bring the water to a boil, remove the kombu as soon as it begins to boil. Add the katsuobushi to the dashi and let simmer for one minute before cutting the heat and letting sit for 10 minutes.
2. Strain the dashi and set aside.
3. For each serving of miso soup, add 1 cup of dashi to a small sauce pan and bring to a simmer. Add a tablespoon of miso to the soup on a ladle, by stirring it in with your chopsticks in the bowl of the ladle. Immediately add the tofu to the soup and cook another minute.
4. Cut the heat, pour the soup into a serving bowl and top with sliced scallions and leftover seaweed (see note).

Adam's Notes

• The miso soup ingredient list makes enough for a single serving of soup.
• Boiling the kombu for too long could make your broth taste bitter.
• Leftover Dashi will keep in the fridge for 5 days, or in the freezer for a couple months.
• Once your kombu is done doing it’s job flavoring the dashi, remove it and slice it thin. Optionally add it to your soup. Some people say it’s rubbery and gross, but I’ve found if you slice it into thin strips, it’s pleasant as heck.