How to cook japanese soups with tofu recipe. Vegan miso soup and dashi broth. I must say right away that you can cook miso soup very quickly, literally in 5 minutes and from three ingredients: you just need to put chopped tofu into boiling water, cook it for a couple of minutes, then turn off the heat, add wakame seaweed or nori, and then miso paste And that’s it — the soup is ready!

Miso soup ingredients

For the kombu dashi broth:
Dried shiitake mushrooms — 7 pcs (optional)
Water — 2 liters.
Seaweed Kombu — 1 sheet

For miso soup (misoshiru):
Broth «kombu-dashi» — 1 l.
Mushrooms — to taste (I used shiitake and buna shimeji)
Seaweed nori — 3 sheets
Tofu — 100 gr.
Miso paste (light) — 2 tbsp

Broth «kombu-dashi» — 1 l.
Mushrooms — to taste (I used shiitake and buna shimeji)
Miso paste (dark) — 2 tbsp
Tofu — 100 gr.
Wakame seaweed — 1 handful

Serve soup:
Sesame — to taste
Green onion — 1 stalk

How to cook miso soup with tofu recipe step by step

1. For the vegan dashi, I will be using dried shiitake mushrooms and kombu seaweed. This is how they look, sold dried in such a package. You can also use one of these. You can find all of these in an Asian supermarket, but if you still don’t have them, then alternatively miso soup broth can be made from any other mushrooms, dried or fresh, or boiled with vegetable broth. So, for 2 liters of water you need one kombu leaf, about this size.

It must be wiped with a damp cloth and divided into strips of one centimeter. This allows the kombu to release more of its flavor into the broth. Leave in water overnight or for 6-8 hours in the refrigerator. After that, the algae will increase in size and become elastic. This might already make a great broth for miso soup, but I want to make it even more flavorful and top it off with dried shiitake mushrooms. The packaging of dried shiitake says to soak them in cold water for one hour, then take them out, rinse and add to the kombu broth just before cooking. But in many recipes, shiitake is added immediately to kombu seaweed and soaked all together for 6-8 hours, and then boiled in the same water.

2. Now we send the kombu and shiitake to the stove. The fire should be medium so that the water only boils a little. Cook for 10 minutes, periodically removing the foam with a slotted spoon or ladle. After the time has passed, we take out the mushrooms and algae. You don’t need to throw them away — you can make a delicious salad out of them or use them in the miso soup itself by cutting the mushrooms into slices, and the kombu into thin strips. I left them for the salad — I will show his recipe in another video. Since I will be making two types of miso soup, I will pour the broth into two small pots. If I cook only one type, then I still pour the broth into another pan to remove the settled sand. And now our delicious kombu-shiitake-dashi broth is ready! Dashi broth can be stored in the refrigerator for 3-4 days.

Now let’s make miso soup. It has many different variations, but I prefer the tofu, seaweed and mushroom version, namely shiitake and buna shimeji — all of which can again be found in an Asian store, but they can also be replaced with oyster mushrooms or mushrooms, or in general do not add mushrooms. I cut the shiitake lengthwise, and I cut off the root of the buna shimeji mushrooms and separate them by hand. Large mushrooms can be cut lengthwise. The number of mushrooms is also determined to your taste — I put a handful of each type. Now it’s tofu’s turn — I personally prefer soft tofu in miso soup, but for now I’m using classic firm tofu.

3. Put the one you like best. Cut the tofu into cubes, you can larger, you can smaller. Well, immediately prepare green onions, with which we will decorate the soup and which will perfectly complement its taste. You can cut into circles or slightly at an angle. Add mushrooms to dashi broth, cook for 3-5 minutes. Then add tofu and cook for another 2-3 minutes, skimming if necessary. I will use two types of seaweed: the first type is nori — seaweed with which rolls are prepared. Nori sheets should be divided into small squares. And the second kind is wakame. Usually I met them in miso soup in restaurants. In Asian supermarkets, wakame is also sold in dried form. They can be left in water for five minutes so that they acquire their original appearance, or immediately added to miso soup.

Just keep in mind that they increase in size very much, about 10 times, so do not pour too much at once. I usually put a small handful in my soup. Turn off the heat and add dried seaweed. One pot will contain wakame, the other will contain nori. If you think the soup is too thick, you can add some water if you like. Well, the main guest of our today’s program is miso pasta. It is a fermented paste made from soybeans, rice or wheat. Light miso paste is slightly sweeter, less rich and less salty. Dark pasta, on the other hand, is saltier and has a richer flavor. Use the one you like best. Now we need to add the pasta to the soup.

4. If you just put it in the broth, then it will not dissolve well and will float in pieces in it, so you need to dissolve it in a small amount of broth in a ladle or a small strainer using a spoon, chopsticks or a whisk. Add miso paste to taste. I usually put 2 tablespoons in about 1 liter of water. It is very important not to boil the miso soup, otherwise the paste will lose all its beneficial properties. Also, if you reheat the soup later, do not bring it to a boil. Serve miso soup garnished with green onions and sesame seeds. By the way, in Japan, miso soup, like other soups, is not served with spoons. The Japanese eat all the solid ingredients of the soup with chopsticks, and simply drink the broth over the edge of the bowl.