Soups & Salads · East Asian

Miso Soup

Name: Miso Soup
Total time: 40 min
Yield: 2
Ingredients: 500 ml water (cold, soft if possible); 8 g kombu (wiped, not rinsed); 10 g katsuobushi (bonito flakes); 2 tbsp miso; 150 g tofu, firm or silken (cubed); 1 tsp wakame (dried); 2 tbsp scallion (sliced thin)

7 ingredients · 40 minutes · 2 servings

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113kcal12.3g protein4.8g fat6.9g carbs~$1.17/ serving*

PescatarianNo porkNo alcohol

Contains: soy, fish

Ingredients

Servings:

500 ml	water (cold, soft if possible)
8 g	kombu (wiped, not rinsed)
10 g	katsuobushi (bonito flakes)
2 tbsp	miso
150 g	tofu, firm or silken (cubed)
1 tsp	wakame (dried)
2 tbsp	scallion (sliced thin)
50 g	mushrooms (sliced thin)optional
½ tsp	soy sauceoptional
¼ tsp	ginger (grated)optional
1 tsp	sesame seeds (toasted)optional

Method

prep2 min
room temperature
wipe the kombu with a dry cloth — the pale dust on the surface is mannitol and free glutamate, the exact thing you are trying to extract, so rinsing it off costs you the broth's backbone. Soak the wakame separately in cold water; it swells six-fold and will overwhelm the bowl if added dry
infuse30 min
cold, off heat
kombu + cold water, left to stand. Glutamate leaches out at room temperature given time; heat is only a way to hurry it, and hurrying it also releases the alginates and iodine compounds that make a broth slick and faintly bitter
simmer8 min
low, brought to ~65°C, never boiling
the kombu and its soaking water, raised slowly until small bubbles cling to the pan bottom and the kombu goes soft and glossy. Pull the kombu out at that point — hold it past a boil and it turns the liquid viscous and sea-bitter, which no amount of miso will hide
infuse5 min
off heat, lid on
+ katsuobushi, scattered over the surface of the just-off-the-boil water so it sinks as it wets. Five minutes is the whole window: inosinate comes out fast, and past that the flakes start giving up fishy amines. Do not stir
clarify3 min
gravity only
pour through a fine sieve or cloth and let it drain untouched — pressing the flakes squeezes out fines and oils, and the broth goes cloudy and sour = dashi. Kombu and inosinate together taste several times stronger than either alone, which is why this two-stage extraction exists at all
simmer3 min
low, bare shiver
dashi + tofu cubes + drained wakame, just until the tofu is heated through. A real boil breaks silken tofu into curds and beats the volatile top notes out of the dashi you spent forty minutes building
temper2 min
off heat, below 80°C
slack the miso in a ladle of hot dashi, mashing it against the ladle until it is a smooth slurry, then stir that back into the pot. Added as a lump it never fully disperses; added to boiling liquid its aromatics flash off, the soy protein coagulates into grit, and the live koji enzymes and lactobacilli die — boiled miso soup tastes flatly salty instead of savory-sweet. If it must be reheated, bring it only to steaming
top1 min
ladle into bowls + scallion, and serve immediately — miso settles out within a couple of minutes, so stir the bowl before drinking