Become a MISO MASTER!

EAT-JAPAN’s guide to the iconic Japanese soup.

Miso soup is a staple of Japanese food. You can combine the nutritional benefits of miso with a huge variety of other ingredients, and create a healthy and delicious side dish.

You can create miso soup with any combination of vegetables, meat or fish.

By mixing lots of different ingredients, you can achieve a rich umami flavour so you don’t even need to use the traditional dashi stock.

According to a miso manufacturer’s survey of 5000 Japanese people, the most well loved ingredients to add to miso soup were:

1. Tofu
2. Wakame Seaweed
3. Onion
4. Abura age (Fried Tofu)
5. Potato

Finally, here’s our EAT-JAPAN recipe for a basic Miso Soup with Wakame and Tofu:

• 5g dried wakame
• 70g silken tofu (1/2 standard block)
• 20g white miso
• 300ml dashi
• handful of chives

1. Rinse the wakame and soak in water for 5 minutes. Cut into bite size pieces. Cut the tofu into 1.5cm cubes.
2. Heat the dashi gently for 3-4 minutes and gently dissolve the miso in the soup.
3. Add the wakame and tofu and heat gently for 5 minutes, being careful not to let it boil. Garnish with chopped chives before serving.

What ingredients do you like to add to your miso soup? Do you have any tips or tricks? Let us know in the comments!

Itadakimasu!