miso soup
Traditionally miso soup can be very complicated to the average person but is really one of the easiest soups to make. The basis is a dashi and to make this in the simplest way would be to fill a pan with water, try to use the best tasting water you can. Because this will definitely effect the taste of your final product. Some tap water taste pretty bad because of the additives they put in it. Add in about how much soup you want for that day. Cut a piece of konbu seaweed that’s a little shorter than the length of the bottom of the pan. Wipe it with a dry cloth. Some konbu will have a white kind of coloring on it this is normal and will add flavor to the soup. Then lay the konbu seaweed in the water and start to heat the water, just before the water boils remove the konbu(you can also, if you have the time leave the konbu in overnight). This will leave the water with a nice soft flavor. As the water begins to boil add in your dried bonito flakes only for about a minute. Skim out and discard. Now you have created your dashi(base). To this you want to add in your miso, but let the water cool a little first.Too hot of water will kill the kojikin(fermented ingredient). When first starting out most people use white miso but you can also use red miso(aka miso) that has a darker saltier more richer taste. Awase miso is a blend of both. Some restaurants even blend the two together themselves to get a specific blend. How much you want to add in is up to you. but you can always follow the directions on your miso package. That’s it.. To this you want to add in whatever you like..a simple mixture would be to add small cubes of tofu and some scallions or even a little wakame seaweed taste nice and is extremely healthy for you. Adding small pieces of shrimp adds a really nice flavor. The trick is though to only add in a little bit of ingredients so not to over power the soup. Remember Japanese food is simple, pleasant not overwhelming.
a good resource for miso can be found on wikipedia/miso
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