Since the secrets of miso paste production were introduced from Korea in about the 7th century, miso soup has been an essential staple food of the Japanese. The ingredients are so highly nutritious that you might well be able to survive on this delicious soup alone! Traditional vegetarian miso soup contains the following ingredients (non-vegetarians will use a special kind of flaked dried fish called bonito in the dashi stock instead of mushrooms):
- miso paste
- dashi (stock made from konbu seaweed plus dried shiitake mushrooms)
- tofu
- spring onions
Before I write about how to make miso soup, I’d like to explain about some of these ingredients, which form the basis of a lot of Zen cuisine, especially as you might already be put off by all the Japanese names! Let’s start with “miso”…
Since the eighth century, Buddhist monks have made miso paste: at first it was made for the aristocracy and the imperial court, but from about the twelfth century Buddhist monks began to teach the common people how to make a simple nutritious vegetarian meal of miso soup accompanied by barley or rice and pickled vegetables, which has remained the staple diet of monks and country folk until the present day.
Miso is made from a mixture of grains – soy beans, barley, rice – plus salt and a naturally occurring fermenting culture called koji (Aspergillus oryzae). There is a wide variety of different types of miso, depending on the proportions of each grain used in its making: aka miso (red miso) is very strong tasting and salty and is predominantly made of soy beans; shiro miso (white miso) is quite sweet and mild, made with less soy and more rice.
The barley and rice are first steamed; then when it cools down a bit the koji culture is added and so the fermentation process begins. Shortly after, the crushed cooked soy beans and salt are added, and then the whole thing is left to ferment in deep cedar vats for a very long time: the best miso is left for at least two summers. The resultant paste is about the texture of peanut butter and has rich earthy smell a bit like Vegemite.
Although having about 14% high-quality protein, miso is also very high in salt and should be used with discretion by those who have high blood pressure (shiro miso has less salt than the dark red aka miso). Miso is available at Asian food shops and is now stocked in many large supermarkets: it usually comes in little tubs of 500g. It will keep for at least a year in the fridge – actually, it would probably keep indefinitely but hopefully you’d have eaten it all before you’d need to worry about it going off! I would suggest starting out with shiro miso because the flavour is not as strong and you can then experiment with other kinds of miso as you get more familiar with its taste possibilities. Although it is called ‘white’ miso, it is in fact a golden caramel colour.
Check the label on the miso to make sure the one you are buying is “GMO free” or “Non-GMO”; that is, the soy beans are not genetically modified.
Coming up…
More miso soup ingredients!
- miso paste
- dashi (stock made from konbu seaweed plus dried shiitake mushrooms)
- tofu
- spring onions
Before I write about how to make miso soup, I’d like to explain about some of these ingredients, which form the basis of a lot of Zen cuisine, especially as you might already be put off by all the Japanese names! Let’s start with “miso”…
Since the eighth century, Buddhist monks have made miso paste: at first it was made for the aristocracy and the imperial court, but from about the twelfth century Buddhist monks began to teach the common people how to make a simple nutritious vegetarian meal of miso soup accompanied by barley or rice and pickled vegetables, which has remained the staple diet of monks and country folk until the present day.
Miso is made from a mixture of grains – soy beans, barley, rice – plus salt and a naturally occurring fermenting culture called koji (Aspergillus oryzae). There is a wide variety of different types of miso, depending on the proportions of each grain used in its making: aka miso (red miso) is very strong tasting and salty and is predominantly made of soy beans; shiro miso (white miso) is quite sweet and mild, made with less soy and more rice.
The barley and rice are first steamed; then when it cools down a bit the koji culture is added and so the fermentation process begins. Shortly after, the crushed cooked soy beans and salt are added, and then the whole thing is left to ferment in deep cedar vats for a very long time: the best miso is left for at least two summers. The resultant paste is about the texture of peanut butter and has rich earthy smell a bit like Vegemite.
Although having about 14% high-quality protein, miso is also very high in salt and should be used with discretion by those who have high blood pressure (shiro miso has less salt than the dark red aka miso). Miso is available at Asian food shops and is now stocked in many large supermarkets: it usually comes in little tubs of 500g. It will keep for at least a year in the fridge – actually, it would probably keep indefinitely but hopefully you’d have eaten it all before you’d need to worry about it going off! I would suggest starting out with shiro miso because the flavour is not as strong and you can then experiment with other kinds of miso as you get more familiar with its taste possibilities. Although it is called ‘white’ miso, it is in fact a golden caramel colour.
Check the label on the miso to make sure the one you are buying is “GMO free” or “Non-GMO”; that is, the soy beans are not genetically modified.
Coming up…
More miso soup ingredients!
Also, since I'm a vegetarian, when making miso soup or any Japanese soup that calls for bonito powder, I substitute saved vegetable cooking water mixed with Amy's or Pacific organic vegetable broth. It's not traditional, but it makes for a rich, full flavor.
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