A Big Miso Soup Meal

By: Fran Costigan


  • Yield: 4 Servings
  • Cuisine: Japanese
  • Course: Appetizer


Ingredients

  • 6 cups water
  • 1 3-inch piece of kombu seaweed
  • 1 2-inch piece of ginger, peeled and thinly sliced
  • 2 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil, seperated
  • 1 medium onion
  • 2 medium carrots, peeled and sliced thinly
  • 8 shitake mushrooms, stems removed and cleaned
  • 4 cloves of garlic, peeled and sliced thinly
  • 4 ounces kale, stems removed and sliced thinly
  • 3 tablespoons light colored miso
  • 2 tablespoons dark miso
  • 8 ounces silken tofu, drained and cut into 1-inch cubes
  • 2 teaspoons soy sauce, more to taste

Directions

  1. Bring the water to a boil in a medium saucepan and reduce the heat to medium low. Add the kombu and sliced ginger. Cover the saucepan and simmer the broth while you cook the vegetables.
  2. Warm 1 tablespoon of the oil in a medium skillet. Add the onions and carrots and saute over medium high heat until the vegetables start to color, 4 to 5 minutes. Spoon the vegetables into a bowl and set aside. Add the mushrooms to the stock.
  3. Add the remaining tablespoon of oil to the same skillet and saute the garlic and kale in the oil 4 to 5 minutes, or until the kale is just wilted. Add the kale to the stock and cook 3 to 4 minutes until the kale is just tender. Do not overcook.
  4. Add the miso to a small bowl. Add about 1 cup of the hot, but not boiling stock to the miso and stir until the miso is dissolved. Add the dissolved miso back into the stock. Now you have made miso soup. Keep the miso soup warm, but again, do not allow the soup to boil. Remove the kombu if you like.
  5. Ladle the miso soup into serving bowls. Add the cooked vegetables and the tofu to each of the bowls. Add the soy sauce to taste.