Miso Soup

Check out the recipes!

In the United States, Japanese foods such as sushi, tempura, sukiyaki, and teriyaki have already gained popularity. While these are typical and great Japa-nese foods, they are not the ones which the Japanese can't live without. You will find that the Japanese who live in foreign countries would almost cry if you served them a bowl of miso soup. You can see the joy of living on their faces after the first sip, then hear with a sigh, "Ah, miso soup is always wonderful!"

Why does miso soup – a very simple dish – warm the Japanese body and soul like this? One possible answer could be found in its history, which dates back more than a thousand years. Although the early history of miso in Japan is not clear, the product was imported from China, the same origin as numerous other cultural and food products in Japan. Its arrival was during the sixth or seventh century, and by the middle of the tenth century, miso became a daily food for the Japanese. Around the twentieth century, the Japanese created miso soup, which the Chinese never made from their miso, chiang. Since that time, people have been following the idea of ichiju issai (one soup, one vegetable dish), which describes the basis of Japanese eating style: miso soup and one vegetable dish with rice.

Classic Tokyo people call miso soup omiotsuke: the expression has three respect words (o, mi, and o), and no other food gets such high reverence. For the sake of a cup of miso soup a day, our ancestors could endure hard work even if they didn't have animal products. (As a matter of fact, meatless meals had been the ordinary style for Japanese from the sixth century to the nineteenth century.) Protein and a variety of other nutrients came from miso (soybeans with rice or barley) and miso soup's other ingredients (vegetables). Still, Japanese mothers commonly tell the children who skip their breakfast, "For your health, you should take miso soup, at least!"

Miso is a fermented paste of soybeans and either barley (mugi miso) or rice (kome miso), with salt. Also, there is a type of miso which is made from only soybeans and salt (mame miso or haccho miso). Now 80 percent of miso products are kome miso. Shinshu miso, a popular variety of this type, is light brown and salty; shiro miso, another popular kome miso, is white and slightly sweet. Shinshu miso is used mainly in the eastern area of Japan, while shiro miso is used in the western area. It depends on the season, too. People favor shinshu (salty) in the summer, and shiro (sweet) in the winter.

For a beginner cooking miso soup, mugi miso or inaka (country) miso would be the best choice, because of its versatile character along with a relatively mild flavor. Mame miso, or haccho miso, has a strong flavor and is very salty. It is used mainly in the central area of Japan. If you use this type of miso, be especially careful not to put too much in the soup.

The combination of miso and other ingredients affects the soup's taste. For example, shiro miso makes the best match with root vegetables, like daikon or taro; on the other hand, it would be a little strange if you put wakame seaweed into shiro miso soup. It may be because of the discordance of "sweet" shiro miso and "salty" wakame. I suggest that you try the following recipes until you become used to the "miso soup marriage."

Talking about the "marriage," the ingredients have some popular basic combinations, too. Besides the following recipes, deep-fried bean curd (aburaage) and long green onions/scallions; sweet potato and long green onions; and daikon and deep-fried bean curd are all fabulous. Also refer to the "arrangement of ingredients" for each recipe. Feel free to experiment, however. Miso soup can vary greatly. The following recipes are typical Japa-nese miso soups, but other vegetables might be used. For example, you can substitute kale for wakame, a turnip for daikon, and so on. There are numerous combinations of ingredients: you can even put tofu, wakame, spinach, and daikon into miso soup. Just enjoy cooking!

People may think that miso is a high-sodium food. Actually, there are 2,200 milligrams of sodium in a tablespoon of dark brown miso. But you can choose a less salty variety. The easy way of distinguishing is by looking at the colors. Avoid the dark brown type; light-brown (2,160 milligrams sodium per tablespoon) or white miso (1,000 milligrams sodium per tablespon) would be less salty. Also, mugi miso has 1,800 milligrams of sodium per tablespoon. Another secret of making less salty miso soup is to add a lot of ingredients. Most of all, the ratio of soup per cup will be decreased if you use plenty of vegetables, compared with selecting only wakame seaweed. Making thick dashi (Japanese style soup stock) is also a good way to create tasteful miso soup without adding too much miso.

You can find miso in Oriental stores or health food stores. Ready-made miso soup might be more common on a regular supermarket shelf, but most of these in-clude fish ingredients. Furthermore, convenient miso soup is not as delicious as one you would make yourself.

Miso soup is very simple to cook. Boil ingredients in the dashi (stock), then add miso. That's it. If you want a good soup, however, you should remember some secrets behind the simplicity, just as with cooking other Japanese dishes. Here are some tips to help you make great miso soup.

• When you add miso into dashi, put miso in a ladle and stir it with some dashi at first. If you skip this process, the miso won't dissolve well.
• Add miso little by little. I found that the miso sold in the US is saltier than Japanese miso (this means VERY salty), so be careful, especially if you want a low-sodium soup.
• Never boil the soup after putting miso into the dashi. It spoils the flavor of the miso.
• Make sure to serve miso soup hot.
• Create a good combination of ingredients. Seasonal vegetables are preferable.
• Consider the possible combinations of miso and other ingredients.
• If possible, add suikuchi, a condiment, which is used for adding to the aroma. Suikuchi may be thinly cut long green onions or welsh onions, grated ginger, thinly cut Japanese basil (shiso), yuzu (a sort of citron) peel, shichimi (seven-spice chili), or roasted sesame seeds. Most of these are available in Oriental stores. Suikuchi is not necessary, but it increases miso soup flavor double, triple, or more!
• There are recommended combinations of miso soup and suikuchi, so please refer to the following recipes if you are a beginner at miso soup cooking.
• Avoid leaving miso soup overnight, because "fresh" miso soup is definitely the best. If you are eating left- over miso soup, add a little more suikuchi than usual.
• If the package is not opened, miso can be preserved at room temperature. Once you use miso, keep it in a refrigerator and seal the package with plastic wrap. Finish miso as soon as possible.