Homemade wakame miso soup can taste a lot better and healthier than instant miso soups. Fortunately, miso soup is very easy and fast to prepare. This recipe for seaweed soup with miso requires a handful of ingredients, but is packed with many goodies, including nutrients-rich brown seaweed wakame and high protein fermented soy paste and tofu.
Ingredients for Wakame Miso Soup
Makes 4 small servings
- ¾-1 tablespoon of miso paste
- 1 tablespoon of dried wakame
- 1/2 cup of firm fresh tofu, cubed
- 4 cups of water or instant dashi (Japanese soup stock)
Instructions for Making Basic Miso Seaweed Soup
- In a large bowl, soak dried wakame seaweed in cold water for 10-15 minutes
- After soaking period, drain and squeeze wakame to get rid of excess water
- Cut wakame into one inch length pieces and set aside
- Start boiling 4 cups of water or instant dashi if available
- Ladle about one cup of boiled water or dashi stock into bowl containing miso paste
- Stir quickly until paste becomes nearly or fully dissolved and less lumpy
- Add dissolved paste into the pot
- Taste and add more miso paste if desired
- Add wakame seaweed and cubed tofu and cook for another minute
When served, miso tends to settle at the bottom of the bowl, this is natural.
Buying Miso Paste and Wakame Seaweed
Wakame is a type of brown seaweed that looks black (though it is truly dark green up close) and wiry, and feels brittle in its dried form. Remember wakame expands 5 times in size after rehydration so use moderately.
Miso is a naturally fermented soy paste made principally from soy beans, salt, and rice, brown rice or barley. Miso has been noted for possessing a good amount of iron, calcium, phosphorus, potassium, some B vitamins, and protein. White miso, which ranges from yellow to light brown color, has a milder, sweeter taste than red miso, which looks reddish-brown. White miso (shiromiso) might be a good choice of miso for those new to eating and/or cooking with fermented soy paste.
Korean and Japanese miso products are the most widely available in Asian stores. Sometimes the English label on a miso paste container will say “soy bean paste”.
For those who would like to have more flavors added to their wakame miso soup, instant dashi soup stock can be used in place of water. Instant dashi is available at Asian groceries shops in the same section with common Korean and Japanese products. If you want to try and make your own dashi at home, visit the popular Japanese food blog Just Hungry for recipes.
Sources:
Just Hungry
