Aside from the great flavor and healthy qualities of Miso, one of the best things about the soup is that it has got to be one of the easiest and quickest meals I know how to make. Seriously, the only thing easier to make than Miso Soup might be a peanut butter and jelly sandwich. The only difficulty with making an authentic Miso Soup is finding the right ingredients.
Ingredients
The only two essential ingredients you need to make Miso Soup are Dashi and Miso Paste. In addition, Tofu, Wakame (seaweed), and Green Onions are excellent items to add to your soup. You might be able to find Miso Paste at your local grocery store (depending where you live), but if not you need to find an Asian market. There are several types of Miso Paste with various names which usually refer to the color of the paste. White Miso is usually the most mellow version, with the flavor getting more intense and more salty the darker the Miso gets - sort of like rou. Red Miso is much saltier and more pungent than White for example. For the purposes of Miso Soup, I prefer a White Miso, which might also be under the name Shiro (which means "white" in Japanese).
If you want good Miso Soup, NEVER buy a pack of instant dried Miso Seasoning (which sometimes has Tofu in it) - the kind that you are simply able to open and add to boiling water. It tastes terrible, it's way too salty, and it doesn't even save you any time, since making Miso Soup from scratch takes only an extra minute or two at the most.
Dashi can be a little harder to find and comes in various forms. Dashi is essentially a combination of Katsuobushi (dried pieces of skipjack tuna or sometimes Bonito Flakes, which are dried flakes of skin from a bonito fish) and/or Kombu (dried seaweed). Usually both Katsuobushi and Kombu are used.
If you find both Kombu and Katsuobushi, then you generally add both of these to a pot of water and boil it for a few minutes, then you would strain out the broth. However, I can rarely find Kombu and Katsuobushi, so I usually use packets of dried Dashi which are available at any Japanese market, and at some other Asian markets as well. The process is the same, though. I add a 4 gram packet of Dashi to 4 cups of water (so an easy conversion of 1 gram per cup of water - however, some types of powdered Dashi can be stronger or weaker, so taste is the best way to decide).
Boil the Dashi and water for 3-4 minutes. I have to warn you though - the first time I made a Dashi stock, I almost poured it down the drain after I smelled it. Believe it or not, adding dried seaweed and fermented fish flakes to water can make is smell fishy! Go figure! I thought at first I must have put too much Dashi in the water because it smelled like anchovy water... I was about to pour it down the drain and call for pizza, when I decided to try it first. Move over crack and meth - I was instantly addicted. You've heard the term "Umami" - which is the fifth basic taste along with sweet, sour, bitter, or salty. Umami is known as the savory taste. And when I tasted the Dashi stock, all I tasted was umami. It was like the water had magically turned into the essence of savory, and I completely stopped caring about or even noticing the fishy smell. If you're still worried, don't, because once you add the Miso Paste you won't really be able to smell the Dashi anymore.
Tofu
While the Dashi is boiling, cut up about 5oz of Tofu. I don't use a scale to figure out what 5oz of Tofu looks like, instead I usually buy a 10oz container of Firm Tofu, and cut it in half. Tofu comes in either Soft, Firm or Extra Soft or Extra Firm and so on. I almost always stick with the Firm Tofu, since the soft varieties will fall apart too easily in soups. Tofu is extremely easy to dice, the only trick involved is after dicing, I lay the diced tofu on some paper towels to drain. Tofu is usually very wet coming out of the package, so you'll want to put it on paper towels to absorb the water. Once the paper towels are soaked, I usually replace them with fresh paper towels and repeat the process a couple times until the tofu is relatively dry (wet tofu might also fall apart in the soup).
Wakame
I absolutely love adding Wakame to my Miso Soup, but it's not for everyone. Wakame is an edible seaweed. I usually buy it in its dried form, which is probably the only way you're likely to find it in the States. You take a little bit of dried Wakame, place it in a bowl of cold water for about 5-6 minutes (or follow the instructions if printed on the package). A little bit goes a long way; meaning that the dried Wakame will reconstitute into several times the amount you thought you put in the bowl, so be prepared for that. After fully softened, I drain the water out of the Wakame and leave it in a strainer until ready to use.
Adding the Miso Paste
After boiling the Dashi and Water for at least 3-4 minutes, turn the heat down to medium-low. Wait until the water completely stops bubbling and then add 4 tablespoons of the White Miso Paste. Perhaps the most important thing to remember about making Miso Soup is that you NEVER, EVER want to boil Miso Paste. Boiling it will either kill the flavor or make it taste extremely strange. So wait until the water stops bubbling before adding the paste.
A lot of recipes say to first mix the Miso Paste with some water in another bowl, or to lower it into the pot with a strainer, but I've never felt the need for any of these tricks. They main thing is that when you mix the Miso Paste with the Dashi water, you want to completely dissolve the Miso into the Water; meaning no clumps. As long as the Dashi water is still hot (but not boiling), I simply add the paste and use a whisk to thoroughly mix until there are no clumps. I've never had clumps doing it this way.
Finishing Touches
Once the Miso is mixed with the Dashi stock, your soup is ready! If you're using Tofu and/or Wakame, they are ready to be added. I also like to add some chopped green onion. Give your pot a little stir and then ladle it out into some serving bowls.
It might seem like a lot of instruction, but really the whole process takes less than 10 minutes!
Kanpai!
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