3 miso soup recipes that a Japanese nutritionist taught me

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For Japanese people, miso soup is a very important dish, especially for breakfast.

Use Katsuo Bonito Flakes or Konbu kelp dashi and miso which is fermented soy, and it'll warm up your intestine to kick start your day.

But even for a Japanese, it's difficult for us to plan the ingredients of the miso soup. 

Today we are sharing with you 3 easy delicious recipes for miso soup recommended by a Japanese nutritionist.

    3 recipe ideas for a healthy delicious miso soup

    Miso soup recipe 1. Tofu and Seaweed

    Tofu is one of the most typical ingredients to put in miso soup.

    Miso is mostly made of the same ingredient as tofu, and soy so it is a perfect match in taste.

    Simple to prepare, you will be able to take a good sources of protein, minerals, and vitamins with this combination.

    Ingredients

    • Tofu(kinu or momen=絹・木綿)…150g
    • dried wakame seaweed…3g
    • water…400ml　
    • miso…2 spoons
    • green onions…chopped, to garnish

    How to make miso soup with tofu and wakame

    1. Boil water in a pot and slide in the tofu cut into 2cm squares.
    2. Once the tofu is warmed up, add the dried wakame seaweed, and turn off the heat.
    3. Add miso, and mix to be served in a bowl.   

    Key points:

    • Miso, the key seasoning for our cuisine, easily loses flavor when boiled. It is best to turn off the heat before adding the miso paste and to not have it heat up too much after you make it into a miso soup.
    • The best way to use dashi is to make it from scratch, but you can always use powder dashi or choose miso paste that has dashi mixed in.


    Miso soup recipe 2. Cabbage and Fried Tofu












    Ingredients:

    ・cabbage…1 sheet
    ・fried tofu…1/4 sheet
    ・water…400ml　
    ・powder dashi…1 teaspoon
    ・miso…2 spoons

    How to make cabbage and fried tofu miso soup

    1. Boil the water, powder dashi, cabbage cut into about 2cm squares, and fried tofu cut in 1/8.
    2. When the cabbage is cooked as you like, turn off the heat. Add miso and mix, and serve in a bowl.
       
    Generally speaking, vegetable miso soup can be made with any kind of vegetable. We do have a combination that is more typical for us, but Japanese moms will throw in leftover vegetables in the fridge to clear it up and buy fresh ones, too.

    Typical ingredients of miso soup are any type of mushrooms, potatoes, and onions!

    Miso soup recipe 3. Shijimi Clams

    Shijimi Clams need some preparation time, but it is extremely healthy and rich in Vitamins, minerals, and amino acid.

    One major nutrient of Shijimi is an amino acid called Ornithine, which supports the liver. A lot of Japanese like to eat shijimi clams when they have a hangover or even when they go out for drinks.


    Ingredients

    ・Shijimi clams…100g

    ・Konbu kelp…around 5cm x 5cm square

    ・sake…3 spoons

    ・water…400ml　

    ・miso paste…1 spoon

    ・Green onions（chopped）…sprinkle


    Preparation:

    • put 500ml of water with 1 teaspoon of salt in a bowl, and leave the shijimi clams inside for them to spit out all the sand the day before cooking. Put a plastic wrap and leave over night in the fridge.


    How to cook:

    1. Put water, konbu, sake, and the clams in a pot.
    2. Just before boil take out the konbu kelp, and take out the foam on the top of the water.
    3. Once the clams open up, turn off the heat and add miso paste.
    4. Serve on a bowl and sprinkle the green onions.


    Key Points:

     

    • Shijimi clams give off very flavorful dashi, so you will not need powder dashi.
    • Miso could be slightly less than your other miso soup as shijimi has a great dashi flavor itself.
    • shijimi clams can be preserved in the freezer, so it is a good idea to have them spit out the water, and keep it in the freezer.

    Why not start your morning with a bowl of miso soup?

    Although there may be arguments about whether you should eat/not eat breakfast for a healthy diet, the Japanese have long believed a strong breakfast leads to a healthy diet.

    Even if you are not really an eater in the morning, just a bowl of miso soup will help to warm up your body system and help you to boost your energy without exhausting your stomach.

    Once you know the basic recipes, you can arrange the ingredients in the soup depending on your needs.
    • put as many veggies as you like for fibers.
    • shijimi when you are hung over
    • using pork/tofu and alternate the protein intake.

    We will be introducing more healthy delicious Japanese recipe ideas so stay tuned!!


    Follow me for more to come :) 

    In this blog, I post my food trips around the world, as insights into Japanese food in comparison to all the different cuisines I encounter through my trips.

    I love food businesses that aren't just into making profits but strive to protect their food culture and are genuinely passionate about what they do. I feel I can share with the world all my food experiences that filled my heart:)

    Having a relative at a green tea farm in "one of the biggest green tea plantation cities, Kakegawa," an uncle running an unagi eel restaurant in an "eel town of Japan, Hamamatsu," and a mother who was one of the first people to introduce the izakaya culture in Silicon Valley, my life has a lot to do with Japanese food culture.

    I have traveled to many places in Japan, so I hope to share what I know to help you better plan your food trip to my home country!
    “When you eat, it’s supposed to go deep into your heart. 
    Whether you are rich or poor, eating isn’t just to fill your stomach, it is also to fill your heart.” 
    - Ryu Aomi 青海 龍






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