Miso Soup

Made miso soup largely following this recipe:

Miso Soup from ScratchPrep Time5 minsCook Time15 minsTotal Time20 mins 

This is the recipe to make miso soup with homemade dashi.Course: Side DishCuisine: JapaneseServings: 4 peopleCalories: 67 kcalAuthor: JadenIngredients

• 4 cups water
• 1 piece kombu 4″x6″ piece kelp
• 1 ounce katsuobushi bonito flakes
• 3 tablespoon miso paste
• 4 ounces tofu
• 1 tablespoon dried wakame seaweed

Instructions

1. Wipe the kombu clean with a paper towel. Add the kombu and water to a sauce pan. Bring to a boil over medium-low heat. When water just begins to boil, remove the kombu.
2. Bring the kombu water to full boil. Add the katsuobushi all at once. Boil for 60 seconds. Turn heat off and let sit, undisturbed for 10 minutes. 
3. in the meantime, dice the tofu. Soak dried wakame in water until expanded. drain and discard water.
4. After steeping katsuobushi, the flakes will sink to bottom of pot. Strain the katsuobushi through cheesecloth. 
5. Return dashi to a simmer and immediately turn off heat. Whisk in miso paste. When miso has fully dissolved, add tofu and wakame. 

Soak and bring kelp to boil. Remove kelp and boil bonito for 1 minute. Then let steep for 10 minutes to make dashi. Filter out bonito flakes.
Bring to boil again, then whisk in miso paste. Add in green onion and silken tofu.
I didn’t have a good handle of how much miso paste to add, so I added too much. Also, I used the combo dashi/miso paste, and it tastes pretty good on it’s own. Making your own dashi does allow for more control to add more depth of flavor. I didn’t get wakame, because I didn’t know it was a necessary ingredient. Next time, I’d probably buy just miso paste separate from the dashi, and make dashi from scratch. Pretty decent first attempt, but definitely could use adjustment next time.