Ridiculously Simple Miso Soup
This is not the Meatless Monday recipe I had planned to share. It is, I admit, a really LAME recipe to share, given it’s simplicity. And the fact that it hardly constitutes a meal.
I think many would say, “Why even bother posting Miso Soup?”
Well. I’ll tell you why.
Warning: Tangental information approaching.
I love miso soup, but I only ever get it when I go to have sushi. Which isn’t very often. I knew I could make it, but didn’t figure it was that practical, having miso paste and tofu in my fridge when I am the only one who would probably ever eat it. But with the advent of Meatless Mondays, it would make the perfect easy Monday lunch! So I set about to gather up the ingredients to have on hand.
And I looked.
And I looked.
It was not nearly as easy as I was led to believe it would be.
I am spoiled with the availability of ethnic ingredients at even the po-dunk grocery stores I frequent. Twenty pound bags of jasmine rice, real — from Thailand — green curry in a can all ready to go for a quick evening meal, etc. And by the way, I know it’s from Thailand because a good friend of mine lived there for several years and turned me on to it! It’s Aroy-D brand.
Anyway, the miso paste was elusive. Byerlys and Lunds were out of it the two times I was there during December. Cub didn’t carry it. I finally found it at Byerlys after the holidays. I figured the seaweed in the miso soup was just nori, but it could be Kombu (?). Who knows. Nori would have to do because everyone has nori. Dashi, a type of fish stock used in miso soup, however, I STILL can’t find!
Lord knows I am not going to make a special trip to an asian grocery deep in the heart of Minneapolis just for dashi. So, last Monday, I wondered if I could just go ahead and make it without the dashi. I gave it a try, instead giving my miso a dash of fish sauce, which I always have on hand. And threw some other stuff in that isn’t normally found in miso soup. Or at least the miso soup I have had up until now.
It was really, really good!
So, I snapped a picture and attached it to a post on twitter.
I have something to say about twitter. I should probably write a whole post on twitter. (In fact, maybe I will do just that). But here it is in a nutshell:
GIVE ME A TWITTER BREAK.
It is NOT the “oh-so-touchy-and-feeley-connection experience” you keep hearing about. At least it isn’t for me. And I don’t believe for one minute that it is for half the people who are saying it is. In fact, it INFURIATES me because I feel like there is something WRONG with me that I don’t seem to have the success and good feelings about it that everyone else seems to. And I’ve been on it for almost two years! I was way ahead of the curve! WHAT IS WRONG WITH ME? *pant, pant* Rant over.
I do have people I follow and who follow me that I genuinely like and have fun little interactions with. A few. Like about 20. That’s 20 people out of somewhere around 350.
People are always saying how “valuable” it is and how amazing it is that you can ask a question and get instant answers.
Really?
Not me.
Two weekends ago I tweeted
“Desperately need new jeans. Used to wear 501’s. Switched to Lucky Riders and Lil Maggie. Need v long inseam but not too tight. Recommend?
Not one reply. Not one. No one even made fun of me, which I surely deserved.
Most of the time I feel like I am tweeting to no one.
So what’s the point?
Oh who the Hell knows. And yet I keep on doing it. Probably some egomaniacal need to blast out personal information. Yet another chance for psychoanalysis, for sure.
(I told you it was an unrelated tangent).
But bringing it back around, like I always do: last monday I tweeted a picture of my miso soup and said
“My first attempt at miso soup ever. So good! Even with no dashi!”
And I got a TON of (well. a ton compared to normal) replies asking for the recipe, which I gave out — in less than 140 characters, because it is that easy:
“2T red miso paste, 2c H2O, 1T nori-flamed, 1/4c diced soft tofu, dash of fish sauce, salt, chili flakes, sesame oil, green onions!”
So I figured if there was interest on Twitter, there would be interest here.
Plus — and this almost never happens — we are not able to sit down to dinner as a family this entire week. And I’ll be DAMNED if Dave is going to miss Meatless Monday again, being that book club was on monday, soccer was on tuesday and he is out of town the next two nights. So I am holding off on a true-blue, full-blown, meatless monday recipe until I can torture us all. Together. As a family. As it should be.
So, without further ado,
Ridiculously Simple Miso Soup (without the Dashi!)
(this makes quite a bit for just one person’s lunch. If you want less, halve the recipe like I did the next time)
- 2 T Miso Paste (Mine is red, because that’s all they had. I have no idea what the difference is)
- 2 cups water
- 1 T thinly sliced nori (first “toast” it by running it over a flame (stove burner) a few times until it is bright green)
- 1/4 cup (or more) SOFT tofu diced into 1/4″ cubes (you can use firm, but I had soft for the first time and it is WAY better than firm in miso.)
- dash of fish sauce
- 1/4 t chili with garlic sauce (or a dash of red chile flakes)
- 1-2 T sliced green onions
- dash of sesame oil
- Anything else you might want to add: edamame, rice or cellophane noodles, side of rice…
Add the miso paste to the water and heat, whisking to dissolve the paste completely. I think some recipes call for you to strain the broth after this step, but I didn’t. Because I’m lazy. And it was just fine.
Once dissolved, add nori, tofu, fish sauce and chili (add frozen edamame and noodles here if using). Simmer gently for about 4 minutes. Add the green onion and simmer for another minute. Then drizzle with sesame oil and serve.
Resist the urge to tell your son, when he asks what it tastes like, the thought that immediately pops into your head:
Dirty feet.
Yum. I love miso. But that is, indeed, what popped into my head.
CaptianMal says
Me: She made Miso soup. There’s a photo & a recipe. Sarah: I like Miso soup. Me: It has green things. S: Miso soup usually does. I don’t know what it is. Me: It has white cubie things. S: It usually does. Together: Probably tofu. Lenore: Miso, isn’t that Jewish? Me: No dear, that’s Matzo. S: Laughing (she is lover of all things Japanese)
Yep, as you can probably tell, we’ll be trying this. Simple is good. Sarah liking it is better. Not to mention it DOES look good.
I missed your tweet about it on Monday AND the recipe that followed. My phone loves to pick & choose which tweets I’m allowed & I only have 8 or 10 ppl coming to it anyway. I mean, it’s just a phone.
I don’t experience the ‘touchy-feely’ either. For that I think you have to be a dedicated tweeter, spending hours doing little else.
For me, it’s a way to throw random thoughts out there, get a glimpse of other ppls lives, & on occasion irritate the hell out of my friends on FB when I get on a roll & post a dozen tweets in a row.
Btw, Sarah thinks the halibut sounds ok, but she really wants the recipe for those cream cheese puffs- w/o the stinky fish. Is it here somewhere?
admin says
Really??? Mikey likes miso soup??? Now that is strange indeed. Let me know what you think.
Cream cheese puffs? Seriously? Why, it couldn’t be easier. Even a Morgan-girl can do it! Just buy the smaller wonton wrappers at the grocery store and a block of cream cheese. Make an egg wash with 1 egg yolk and 1 T water and mix it up. Add about 1-2 teaspoons of cream cheese to the middle of the wrapper, paint two of the edges of the wrapper with the egg wash and seal TIGHTLY!! It’s now a triangle. Take opposite points of the triangle and bring them together and squeeze so it forms a little circle.
Put them on waxed paper as you complete them. Don’t stack or touch, or they will stick together.
Heat a couple inches of vegetable oil in a pan or wok to 350 degrees. Fry until golden. Drain on a folded brown grocery bag (great for absorbing grease). Serve with Sweet Chili Sauce, available in most grocery stores.
Julie Sweeney says
I don’t Twitter, try “Worn” jeans. I originally bought the Worn pants (have 3 pairs now), and since have bought 5 pair of Worn jeans, love them. They are very long, which is nice, and have all different styles/fits. I buy locally either at the clothing shop in Waconia, or Osage, IA, but I see you can buy online at MyTrueFit.com for a reasonable price and no shipping. Nordstroms also carries very limited styles, from my experience. Hope you find something that works!
Julie Sweeney says
Sorry, you can use this link http://www.mytruefit.com/jeans/brands/Worn-Jeans/54
if interested in the Worn jeans.(at least to look at them)
eightthousandmycetophilidae says
this is not ridiculously easy
admin says
oh, now, now now! Come now. Come to my house, I’ll pour you some wine, give you some bread and I’ll show you just how ridiculously easy it is:
1) boil 2 cups of water
2) cut up some tofu
3) stir in 2T of miso paste
4) add something green
that’s it. I swear.
Sharon says
Your soups sounds interesting. Am Japanese and have a few suggestions, but first – just moved to Minnesota and having a heckuva time finding miso, so your tip to finding it at Byerlys is truly appreciated! Having withdrawal and will make a run tomorrow to see if they still carry it. Now for the soup – miso is loaded with wonderful bacteria that’s incredibly good for you and is a staple of a macrobiotic diet. It’s very important that when making this soup that you don’t kill the bacteria. So boil water and whatever else you’d like to put in it, take off heat, let it cool for a few minutes (and stop boiling), then add and dissolve paste. One should never boil miso. It will probably taste the same, but the benefits of the soup will be lost. My personal favorite is to boil water, add cubes daikon, (dried) seaweed (that’s been soaked in warm water) and tofu. After daikon is cooked (consistency similar to boiled potatoes), let cool as described above then dissolve miso in the soup along with a little rice wine and dashi. Sprinkle thinly sliced leeks on top and enjoy! I prefer leeks to scallions simply for their nutritional value – same taste. My mother’s favorite is to thoroughly scrub live littleneck clams in their shell, steam them, let cool a bit, then add miso and rice wine to the clam-juiced water and put clams (still in shell) back into the soup and serve. She would also make a nice glaze for mackerel with miso – miso paste, a little water to thin it out, a little rice wine and sugar. Coat the fish and cook or grill – nummy, nummy!! Thanks again for the clue as to where to find miso paste in the twin cities!!
Sharon says
Oh, I forgot — one last thing: I too am fan of 501s and got tired of the buttons (the older I get, the less time I seem to have to mess with them … ahem), so I switched to 550s. They’re a more relaxed cut with a zip, though I still have my 501s for those days when I’m feeling (stupidly) confident, but I think you’ll like the 550s.
Kimberley says
This looks good…thanks!
Alien says
Dashi is the name of the stock used in miso soup. It is a stock made from a type of seaweed called Kombu. It’s really simple to make. I’ve heard you can substitute kombu with dashi.