Omisoshiru (miso soup)
The simplest Japanese meal composition consists of omisoshiru (miso soup), rice and one side dish, often times otsukemono. (Japanese style pickles). This style of three dish meal is called “Ichijyu-issai” (Direct transition is one soup, one vegetable). The word came around during the Kamakura era (1100-1333) when Japanese people used to eat very simple meals. It was said that if you followed the Ichijyu-issai rule, you will be able to have a healthy diet. Nowadays the way Japanese people eat has changed along with the modern lifestyle, but having a meal that consists of omisoshiru and rice is still very typical, and the idea of “ichiju-issai” stays at the core of Japanese cuisine.
Omisoshiru consists of dashi (often times kelp and bonito flake stock), miso and ingredients of your choice. It is a very simple dish that you can put together in minutes by using instant dashi (which many people do these days). But if you have some time to spare, and you are willing to invest in some Japanese ingredients, you should definitely make dashi from scratch. It is a simple yet delicate process, and when you end up with your homemade dashi, the umami smell will make you feel so rewarding. Once you get the hang of preparing dashi, you will have your life time to explore the world of miso soup to your liking
Ingredients (serves about 4)
For dashi
15g Combu (dried kelp)
10g Katsuobushi (dried bonito flakes)
1ℓ water
Other ingredients
300g Tofu (Any type will do but I prefer “momen”, a slightly textured kind)
100g nameko (slimy mushrooms) or any kind of Japanese mushrooms
30-40g miso (rice miso, wheat miso or bean miso. Anything but white miso)
2 tbs aosa-nori (dried seaweed)
How to cook
- In a big pot put the kelp and water and cook under medium heat. Do not let it boil up (it will draw out bitterness), just keep it at simmer for an hour.
- After an hour turn off the heat, add Katsuobushi all at once and without hesitation, immediately (but carefully) strain the stock. Do not squeeze the remaining, they will bring out bitterness. (You can use the remaining to make “furikake” an easy side dish that goes well with rice.)
- Pour the dashi back into the pot, cook under medium heat. Tear your tofu in chunks and add to the dashi. (Tearing them up makes the dish much more delicious than to cut them in cubes since the soup will be soaked in tofu more easily.)
- Once the dashi has brought up to simmer, add the nameko and let it cook for about a minute. Turn off the heat, add miso. (It is a common technique to use chopsticks and a ladle to stir in the miso gradually into the dashi)
- When serving, add the aonori into your bowl and pour in your desired amount of miso soup.
Omisoshiru is eaten at any time of the day in Japan. It goes well with almost any Japanese meal (or even with some western style food). If you can’t come across nameko, it is totally fine to use any kind of mushroom (if possible Japanese mushrooms like shitake). If you are using other kinds of mushrooms, feel free to add them at the first stage of cooking at step 3. Mushrooms will add such nice umami to the stock. Since preparing omisoshiru is like a ritual I do almost every day, to keep things interesting I often like to put seasonal vegetables to my omisoshiru.
For example, in the summertime I sometimes put tomatoes to give it a little twist. They add the soup a refreshing tanginess. In the winter I like to add kabocha (Japanese squash) along with other root vegetables. The kabocha melts into the soup and adds a nice sweet flavor. Omisoshiru is so versatile, that you can put almost anything in to it, and it is hard to mess it up. I hope you get to explore and find your favorite omisoshiru flavour. By the way, when you have hangover, omisoshiru with clams is a go to.
