Healthy miso soup recipe - endless variations

Looking for a miso soup recipe?

This page will give you more than that. Much more. Rather than give you a single miso soup recipe, or even two or three or more, I will guide you through the basic steps for making miso soup.

From there, you can develop endless variations for preparing miso soup. In fact, you can create different versions of miso soups every day.

I was so impressed the first time I heard one macrobiotic teacher say that his wife can prepare new dishes every day. But I soon realised that I - and everybody else - can do the same. All we need to do is learn some basic cooking methods and vary the ingredients. And tell ourselves that, we, too, can be creative.

Healthy miso soup

Apart from teaching you how to make miso soup, I have also discussed guidelines on how to make it "correctly".

Read this article before you make your miso soup recipe. It discusses how choose good miso and use miso correctly in order to fully enjoy the health benefits of miso. The key points are:

• Use only miso that has been naturally fermented, using natural sea salt and organic, non-GMO soy beans. Your miso paste should not contain MSG and other chemical additives that are harmful to health.
  
  
• Use unpasteurised miso paste, which have their friendly bacteria still alive and active. Such miso is usually sold in tubs or in loose form, and usually refrigerated.
  
  
• Miso should not be cooked over a strong fire. Add it to your miso soup when the soup is almost ready, and simmer gently for about 3 minutes.

A simple miso soup recipe

Below is an example of a very simple miso soup recipe for four servings. From there, vary the ingredients, use your creativity and come up with endless variations.

Ingredients

• 1 litre water
• I cup daikon or white radish, sliced thinly or cut into small chunks
• 1 cup leek, sliced thinly
• wakame seaweed - small amount, soaked in water
• miso - about one heaped tablespoonful
• spring onion or coriander for garnish

Method

• Place water, vegetables and seaweed in a pot and bring to a boil. Cook for 10 to 15 minutes
• Ladle out some of the hot soup. Dissolve miso in it and pour back into the pot. Use about 1 tsp miso per person, depending on the saltiness of the miso. Your miso soup should have a MILD SALTY TASTE.
• Garnish with chopped spring onions, coriander leaves or other fresh herbs.

IMPORTANT: After adding miso paste to the soup, simmer gently for about 3 minutes, but DO NOT BOIL. Gentle simmering stops the fermentation process, so that the miso will not continue to ferment – and produce gas – in your digestive tract. However, the simmering heat is not strong enough to kill the friendly bacteria present in the miso.

That's it. You have your miso soup!

Miso soup recipe variations

Now for the endless variations... you can make miso soup using different ingredients - not just vegetables but also grains, pasta, beans, lentils, fish, meat, etc.

You can also use different types of miso paste, which I will discuss in another article.

There are no strict rules about what can go into a miso soup recipe. Usually, miso soup is a light watery soup but even "cream" type pureed soups can be flavoured with miso (in this case usually white miso). Thick stews, too, can be seasoned with miso. In fact, just about any soup can be flavoured with miso to make a miso soup.

But while there are no rules, a few ingredients are good to include frequently:

• SEAWEEDS, which are a rich source of minerals, including calcium.
  
  Usually, wakame seaweed goes well with miso soup. This is the type of seaweed that you will find floating on top a bowl of miso soup if you eat in a Japanese restaurant. Kombu or kelp is used in Japanese cuisine to make dashi soup stock. You can use nori or "sushi seaweed" as well. Click here to learn more about differnt types of seaweed. Do not use a lot. About 1-square inch or less of kombu or wakame seaweed per person is enough.
  
  
• GARNISHING such as finelly chopped spring onion, parsley, coriander and other herbs. These tend to “liven up” the miso soup as well as liven you up. From the macrobiotic perspective of yin and yang, green leaves have upward, outward energy and this helps to balance the more contracting energy of miso.

Click here to learn about the diffrernt types of miso paste for a miso soup recipe.

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