Miso soup (or misoshiru as the Japanese call it) is a traditional Japanese dish. It is as typical for Japan as cabbage soup is for Russia or borscht for Ukraine - in the Land of the Rising Sun, miso is prepared in every home.
The base of this dish is miso paste. It is a mixture of fermented beans with rice, barley and wheat. There are many varieties of miso in Japan. They differ in color and taste - so the broth that is prepared on the basis of this paste can be very different.
The simplest miso soup is made with water, pasta, and seaweed—and even this way it's much more refined. Such a mixture can be both an independent dish and the basis for the preparation of more complex soups. They add vegetables, mushrooms, meat, fish, seafood, tofu, soy sauce, various spices and spices.
IngredientsThe easiest version of misoshiru is with salmon. Algae for him, you can take any - those that you like the most. The essential ingredient is nori. They are cut into thin strips and put into the soup last. They play the role of both an ingredient and decoration.
Place the seaweed in a bowl and cover with cold water to cover. Leave for 2 hours to swell. After that, drain the water. Cut seaweed into small pieces. Separate the salmon fillet from the skin, the bones will have to be removed. Cut the fish into small cubes.
Tofu also cut into small cubes (about 1x1 cm). Lightly fry the sesame seeds in a pan without adding oil. Cut the nori into strips. Finely chop the green onion. Pour 600 ml of water into a saucepan, put on fire and bring to a boil.
Add miso paste and mix well. Add fish and cook over medium heat for 3-5 minutes. Add cheese, seaweed and soy sauce and cook for 3 more minutes. Add nori and sesame seeds, turn off. Serve the soup hot, sprinkled with chopped green onions.
This recipe uses another ingredient that often appears in misoshiru recipes. This is dashi (dashi) broth. It can be prepared from different products - algae, fish, mushrooms. Now dashas are most often found in the form of a concentrated powder, which should be diluted with water.
Ingredients Soak the shiitake mushrooms ahead of time. Prepare the broth: pour 1 liter of cold water into a saucepan, add dashi and put on fire. Slice the shiitake and place in the pot as well. Pour in a little water in which the mushrooms were soaked - so the broth will be more fragrant.Prepare food. Defrost the shrimp and, if necessary, boil in a separate bowl. Cut the tofu into small equal cubes. Bring the broth to a boil and turn off. Add miso paste and stir until completely dissolved. Miso soup - an exotic dish that is suitable for a date Do not bring the broth with pasta to a boil, otherwise it will lose its taste. When the miso dissolves, the broth is ready. Divide the shrimp into serving bowls. Crack a quail egg into each. Ladle the soup, sprinkle with sesame seeds and chopped green onions. Serve.
Traditional Japanese mushrooms - shiitake. European lovers of Japanese cuisine often replace shiitake with champignons, but the taste and aroma of the dishes will not be the same at all. Try to cook soup with shiitake and you will understand everything yourself.
Ingredients Prepare food. Wash the shiitake, pat dry with paper towels and cut into thin slices. Wash carrots and daikon, peel and cut into thin slices. Cut the tofu into small cubes. Cut the wakame into strips. Bring vegetable broth to a boil.Add miso paste and stir until completely dissolved. Reduce heat, add shiitake and simmer for 2-3 minutes. After that, put vegetables and cheese to the mushrooms, cook for another 2 minutes. Wash the onion feathers, dry and cut diagonally. Arrange in bowls, pour the soup, decorate with wakame. Serve hot.
The Japanese often use chicken meat in recipes, and udon noodles are a typical Japanese product. If ramen is made with eggs, then they are not put in udon. However, misoshiru with chicken and udon noodles is a very hearty soup. Fresh ginger gives it a spiciness, and pak choi gives a mild flavor. Grate the ginger on a fine grater. Put in the broth and put on a strong fire. Bring to a boil, reduce heat and add miso paste. Stir until completely dissolved and cook for another 5 minutes. Wash the chicken, pat dry and cut into small thin slices.
Put the meat in the broth and cook until tender. Wash the cabbage and separate into leaves. Cut into small pieces. When the chicken is ready, add the cabbage to the soup and cook for 1 more minute. Turn off the stove, put the noodles into the soup and stir. Serve hot.
Dashi is a low-fat sea broth, the basis of all Japanese soups. You can cook it yourself in this way: wipe the kombu seaweed with a clean cloth and fill it with cold water, in which it should swell for about half an hour. Then we put the pan with the future dashi on the fire, bring the water to a boil and immediately turn off the fire. We take out the kombu and pour it into the katsuobushi broth. The broth needs 10 minutes to infuse and absorb the taste of fish chips. Then the broth must be filtered, and the dry residue must be squeezed out. The dashi broth is ready. 
Add chopped tofu pieces and peeled shrimp to the hot dashi broth and cook for 2-3 minutes. Now it's time to add the miso paste. We shift it into the soup and stir thoroughly so that it is completely dissolved. After you have added the miso paste, you can not bring the soup to a boil, otherwise it will lose all the useful and flavoring properties. 
Pour the finished soup into bowls, decorate with chopped cilantro and serve. Before you try this delicious and hearty soup, be sure to say "Itadakimas" - this is inherent in every Japanese, and you will be even more imbued with the atmosphere. Enjoy your meal! You can choose not to boil the dashi broth, but buy a ready-made soup concentrate in the form of a "tea" bag, powder or solution.
If you overcook the shrimp, they will become "rubber".
To make the dish more satisfying, you can cook it with rice, udon noodles, or shiitake mushrooms.
Miso soup cannot be reheated, so calculate the amount in advance.
Tofu is an excellent substitute for meat, eggs, and dairy products. With its high nutritional value, it is low in calories, which means that those who follow a diet will appreciate it.
Interest in the original cuisine of Japan, familiar to everyone from sushi and rolls, which have long become gastronomic passions of Russians, has recently been increasing at an incredible rate. Among fans, there is a trend when visiting restaurants that serve exotic dishes of the land of the rising sun, to learn their history and cooking technology. Often questions are asked about what is miso soup, and how to cook it correctly? They are looking for similar information on the relevant culinary resources. This national dish of the East, consumed daily in Japan, has earned great popularity all over the world for its lightness, unforgettable taste.
Misoshiru, as this traditional dish is called, is one of the main dishes of Japan. It can be found every day on the table of any Japanese family, regardless of its social status. Moreover, they eat it not only at lunchtime, as is customary in European countries, but also in the evening, or even for breakfast.
The custom of preparing this dish every day is rooted in religious traditions that developed among the inhabitants of the Land of the Rising Sun in ancient times. For many centuries, misoshiru, used by the Japanese every day, brings them longevity due to the presence of useful substances:
Experts have proven that regular consumption of miso soup, even in small quantities, helps to increase the body's resistance to colds and infectious diseases. Also, doctors and nutritionists note that in people whose menu includes this dish, the risk of developing malignant neoplasms in the prostate, mammary gland, lungs and digestive organs is significantly reduced.
The recipe for Japanese miso soup is attractive to gourmets for its versatile composition, which has huge health benefits. Thanks to its healing properties, this dish has earned the fame of a healer, about which there is a wonderful saying in the land of the rising sun: “One cup of miso soup a day is enough, and the doctor will never have to come near your door.”
The uniqueness of the dish lies in the fact that it contains low-calorie foods that are easily digested and bring great benefits to the body. That is why this national dish, which is appreciated by adherents of a healthy diet around the world, has an unsurpassed taste. Its peculiarity lies in the fact that you can change the ingredients in it depending on the culinary imagination and taste preferences of a person.
Also, based on the classic soup recipe, you can very easily create your own varieties of misosiru, you just need to add some vegetable component, for example, potatoes, to the composition of the prepared dish. But the basis of miso soup is always the same - it is a paste of the same name, made from fermented soybeans with salt and malt added to them. This product must be aged until fully cooked for several months, during which it acquires a pleasant aroma and unique taste.
Such beneficial components for human health as greens, soy, mushrooms, sea kale and fish used in the recipe are the main ones. Without them, cooking misoshira is impossible. But rice, eggs, vegetables, shrimp, and even chicken can get along well with them.
Do not forget about the golden rule of miso soup - all the products added to it should be in harmony with each other.
Many people have the desire to cook this unique and healthy dish, but not everyone succeeds. And the problem here is not the difficulties with the recipe, it is simple, but the inability to find the necessary products in domestic supermarkets. That is why lovers of Japanese cuisine who want to surprise their families or friends with this exotic, delicious dish are often interested in how to prepare miso soup based on products available in our stores.
The only thing that cannot be replaced under any circumstances is miso paste, which is the basis of a healthy soup. It is unrealistic to cook this dish without it, since it is it that gives the dish lightness due to the content in its composition of almost all the amino acids necessary for the human body and a large amount of nutrients. Therefore, when you have a desire to cook misoshira, you should pay attention to online stores that deliver the necessary products of Japanese cuisine by mail.
Due to the fact that the recipe of the dish is quite diverse, and each person can cook it to his own taste, first of all, you need to try out his original classic recipe. Having learned how to cook it, you can start fantasizing with the replacement of ingredients and the invention of your own versions of misoshiru.
The cooking process is not complicated. Any person who has the components declared in the recipe is able to cope with it. They begin to prepare miso soup with tofu and seaweed by bringing 4 cups of water to a boil in a cooking container, then pour the prepared dashi granules into it, mix until they are completely dissolved and a homogeneous broth is obtained, reduce the heat and, with a slow boil, lay the prepared products .
Tofu, cut into medium-sized cubes, is added first. Next, seaweed is poured with a small amount of hot water. She is allowed to soak for about two minutes, then sent after the cheese to boiling water. While the tofu seaweed is slowly simmering, prepare the miso paste. To do this, put it in a bowl, add a little broth, stir until smooth. As soon as it disperses in hot water, the mixture is poured into the dish being prepared, the fire is turned off, mixed thoroughly and sprinkled with leek rings on top.
If you have all the products, it will take no more than a quarter of an hour to cook the dish. But we should not forget about some features.
Firstly, after pasta is added to miso soup, it should not be boiled in any case, and secondly, this dish is prepared exclusively at one time, since it cannot be reheated!
Only if these nuances are observed, it is possible to achieve the preparation of excellent food, the taste of which will be remembered for a long time.
After the classic version of the dish has been tested and the process of its preparation is clear, you can begin to fantasize. Most often, the Japanese add fish to the national dish, so we should also find out how to cook miso soup with salmon. This variety of a popular soup among connoisseurs of healthy and tasty food has many fans for its taste and ease of preparation.
The recipe is almost completely similar to the classic version, the only difference is the addition of fish to the dish. It is best to take a salmon head for this. Preparing it for heat treatment is the most difficult in the cooking process. Due to the fact that this fish has a large head with voluminous bones, efforts will be required to separate it into parts. To do this, it is better to involve the hands of a man. All other actions will not pose any problems:
Next, the preparation of miso soup takes place according to the recipe presented above, with the only difference being that we first dissolve the dashi granules in water, bring the resulting broth to a boil, lower the salmon head into it and cook for 5 minutes. The rest of the product tab is exactly the same as in the classic version.
This version of an exotic dish, which leaves an unforgettable taste sensation, is very popular in Japan due to the high content of easily digestible protein, which is very useful for people involved in sports. It includes the following set of ingredients - 500 grams of shrimp, king shrimp are best, 100 grams of champignons, funchose (bean noodles) and miso paste, 30 grams of leek, sesame oil, soy sauce, rice vinegar.
The cooking technology differs from the classic version of the national dish.
The dish laid out on plates is sprinkled with leeks and served at the table. According to the Japanese, the soup contains aphrodisiacs, substances that enhance sexual activity.
This is another version of a hearty and healthy national soup. A pronounced sea taste in this case is diluted with a beaten egg. It is very easy to prepare. Seaweed is boiled in dashi broth, or regular fish broth made from dried tuna shavings. This process takes no more than two minutes. At the same time, squids and shrimp are boiled, cleaned, cut (for convenience, you can also purchase ready-made or canned seafood).
In a boiling fish broth with seaweed, a beaten egg is added in a thin stream with constant stirring. After that, miso paste is diluted in a separate bowl. It is also poured into the soup, after which the fire is turned off. Prepared shrimp and squid are laid out in portions on plates before serving the dish to the table. On top of each serving, you can sprinkle with leek or sesame seeds (in this matter, each housewife is guided by her own taste).
This variation of Japan's national dish is prepared in minutes and has huge health benefits, especially when shiitake is placed in it. These mushrooms grow exclusively in China or Japan and contain vitamin D. But if they cannot be obtained, ordinary mushrooms can be used. The taste of this soup will change a little, but it will not get worse.
The classic version described above is taken as the basis of the dish. There are many detailed recipes that tell you how to cook miso soup with mushrooms in various sources, so I want to dwell on the important nuances of the cooking process:
Prepared ingredients are poured into boiling dashi broth and boiled for 5 minutes. Then miso paste is added here, the fire is turned off, everything is well mixed and laid out on plates. To decorate and improve the taste, the dish is sprinkled with finely chopped leek or sesame seeds. It is very important to prevent overcooking, as prolonged heat treatment makes the mushrooms tasteless and unappetizing.
This variety of the national dish of Japan is considered one of the easiest options. A big plus is that all the necessary ingredients can be purchased at a large supermarket. The recipe for Japanese miso soup with chicken will not cause any difficulties in the cooking process. Even an inexperienced hostess can feed them to the household.
After the soup with the ingredients added to it has boiled over medium heat for 10 minutes, finely chopped chicken is returned to the pan, a couple of tablespoons of gelding (sweet rice wine), a teaspoon of soy sauce and diluted miso paste are poured into the pan. Turn off the heat, mix the finished dish thoroughly, sprinkled with green onions.
This version of the Japanese traditional cooking dish is almost completely identical to the previous recipe. The only difference is that after turning off the fire, swollen in boiling water and medium-sized national Udon noodles are added to it.
The cooking time will be minimal - no more than 20 minutes, so it will be a real salvation for working women. With miso soup with chicken and noodles, you can feed your family a full dinner, despite your busy schedule.
Experienced culinary experts advise preparing the national soup of Japan according to such an interesting, but not entirely specific recipe for the land of the rising sun. Unlike the classic variety of misoshiru, this dish is much richer in taste and more satisfying due to the fact that it contains fatty pork meat and enoki mushrooms (winter mushrooms). The recipe for Japanese miso soup with pork is quite widespread in Russia and is very popular among lovers of exotic cuisine.
Roasted pork and boiled spinach are placed in the heated dashi broth, rice vinegar, soy sauce and miso paste diluted in water are added. The fire is turned off, and the finished soup is poured into portioned plates, sprinkled with herbs and served at the table.
Often people ask questions about how to make miso soup with perch. This light, but at the same time hearty dish has long been appreciated by visitors to Japanese restaurants. At home, it can also be prepared, and without spending time and effort on it.
Cooking is somewhat similar to the classic recipe for traditional Japanese miso soup, but with some nuances. They concern the preparation of fish and consist in the fact that the perch must be well salted and grilled before being lowered into the dashi broth. Only after that it is pitted, cut into diamonds and added to the dish, made according to the classic recipe.
Among lovers of oriental cuisine, this version of the national soup is known, which is valued not only for its excellent quality and ease of preparation, but also for its very low calorie content (only 12.2 calories per 100 grams of product!).
The cooking process consists in the fact that first of all it is necessary to soak the mushrooms for about an hour. Next, they are poured with dashi broth, brought to a boil and boiled over low heat for 20 minutes. At this time, sea kale is washed from salt and cut into small pieces, which falls to the mushrooms. The rest of the cooking process is exactly the same as in the classic version described above.
Miso soup is a classic Japanese dish. The Japanese are happy to eat it not only at lunch, but in the morning and evening. The composition of the dish has a lot of useful components and a minimum of calories. Now in large supermarkets it is quite possible to buy the necessary ingredients, and having them, making miso soup is not difficult at all.
Miso soup is a dish with history, it came to Japan with Buddhist monks. Initially, this food was available only to wealthy people, and the monks carefully concealed the recipe for making the dish. But over time, the dish became massive, accessible to ordinary people.
To make miso soup, you need to have two main ingredients. It's miso paste and dashi (dashi).
Miso paste is made from fermented soybeans. In addition, the product contains a special mold culture, which is used for fermentation, and sea salt. The fermentation process can take from several months to several years. At the same time, aged pasta is valued more, but it must be used carefully. With prolonged fermentation, the risk of developing pathogenic bacterial strains increases, which makes the product hazardous to health.
There are several varieties of miso paste. The classic version is made only from soybeans, but there are also options with the addition of barley, white or brown rice, hemp seed, ginger. The choice of pasta option is a matter of taste, but it should be remembered that the darker the color of the pasta, the more rich and salty it tastes.
The second important component is dashi (dashi) - this is a concentrated broth, in the form of granules. It is prepared from dried and then smoked tuna and special algae.
In addition, the composition of the soup may include seaweed (kelp, wakame, etc.), tofu soy cheese, fish fillet, shiitake mushrooms and other products.
Important preparation points:
Interesting facts: it is known that in Japan there are a lot of centenarians. And not the last role in increasing life expectancy is played by nutritional habits, including the love of the country's inhabitants for miso soup. This dish strengthens the immune system, improves digestion, strengthens blood vessels, and prevents cell aging.
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To get started, you should master the traditional soup recipe, which includes a minimum of ingredients. This recipe is basic, having learned how to cook it, it will be possible to make soup with various additives.
Pour a liter of water into the pan, add the granulated broth (dashi) to it, stir and bring to a boil. This will be the base of our soup.
Soak the wakame in cold water for a quarter of an hour. Then rinse well and cut into strips (like noodles). If nori is used, then it is not necessary to soak the seaweed, they can be cut immediately.
Advice! If there is no wakame in the supermarket, then you can replace this ingredient with 1 sheet of nori.
Cut the tofu into small cubes, then dip the soy cheese into the boiled broth. We also shift the chopped seaweed there. Pour 1-2 ladles of broth, let it cool slightly. We dilute the measured amount of miso paste with the broth. We add the broth gradually, kneading well, this is the only way to avoid the formation of lumps.
Reduce the heat level to such an extent that the broth stops boiling. Pour the diluted pasta into the soup in a thin stream, stirring constantly. After stirring the pasta well, remove the soup from the stove. Pour into small deep cups or bowls. Serve garnished with fresh herbs
The salmon soup variant has a richer flavor palette than the basic variant.
Read also: Rabbit Soup: 8 Quick and Tasty Recipes
Soak the sheets of algae, leave them to swell for half an hour. Then rinse and cut into long strips. Remove the skin and bones from the salmon and cut into small pieces. Cut the tofu into cubes. Lightly toast the sesame seeds in a dry frying pan, but in no case allow them to burn.
We put water on the fire, stir the granulated broth in it. After boiling, put pieces of salmon in the broth and cook for five minutes. Then add chopped seaweed and tofu, mix.
We dilute the miso paste with a small amount of broth and pour it into the soup. Mix and turn off. When serving, sprinkle the soup with thin green onion rings.
Another variation on the basic recipe is made with shrimp.
Defrost, wash and clean the shrimp. Cut the nori sheets into small squares.
Advice! It is more convenient to cut algae not with a knife, but with scissors.
Peel and grate the carrots. Boil the eggs, peel and cut into cubes. Cut the tofu the same way.
Dilute dashi in water, bring the broth to a boil. We dip all the prepared ingredients into the soup - carrots, seaweed, shrimp, eggs and tofu, cook at a low boil for about 7 minutes. Then pour off part of the broth, stir the miso paste in it and pour this mixture into the broth. Stir and switch off immediately.
Shiitake mushroom soup is popular. This type of mushroom is common in Asia. Like our mushrooms, shiitake grows on tree trunks and stumps. It has a wide brown hat and a thin stem. The upper part of the cap is uneven, as if covered with scales.
Boil water, dilute dry granulated dashi broth in it. Add the diced tofu to the broth and cook for about 2 minutes. We cut the mushrooms, put them in the soup and warm them over low heat, avoiding boiling, for 2-3 minutes.
Each of us who visited a Japanese restaurant tried Miso soup, at first glance it is quite difficult to cook at home, but it is not, Japanese miso soup is very easy to prepare, Miso soup is nutritious and healthy. The Japanese eat miso soup as often as we eat borscht or cabbage soup. Each Japanese housewife has her own recipe, but today we will cook miso soup with shrimp.
Main products:
How to make Miso Shrimp Soup:
Pour 1 liter of water and set to boil. You can immediately pour fish broth in granules - hondashi.
Pre-soaked shiitake mushrooms cut into cubes and also throw into the pan at the beginning of cooking. Dried shiitake mushrooms are most often used to make miso soup, as they give the broth a special taste. You can also pour a little liquid into the broth, in which the mushrooms were soaked. While the broth boils, we begin to prepare the rest of the products.
Boil the shrimp separately. So that they do not lose their taste, it is important to digest them. It takes 2-4 minutes for the shrimp to reach readiness. We take it out of the water, clean it.
Pour wakame seaweed to them, which can not be soaked as they will get the proper appearance in the soup.
Cut the tofu into chunks and place on a plate.
When you see that the broth boils, turn it off and you can add miso paste: 90-120 g of miso paste per liter of water. Stir the pasta into the broth until dissolved.
After adding the miso paste, make sure that the soup does not boil - it should just be very hot. Otherwise, the paste loses its useful properties.
If during cooking the soup is not very salty, you can put a little soy sauce or a drop of salt.
When the miso paste is completely dissolved, you can consider the base of the soup ready and pour into plates with shrimp.
Miso soup has an important feature - it cannot be heated. It is necessary to determine in advance the number of servings and immediately serve hot to the table. When reheated, it completely loses its taste.
A little about the products from which miso soup is made: miso paste is soybeans, hondashi is a mixture of dried kombu seaweed and dried mackerel shavings; tofu is bean curd.
A variety of foods can be added to Japanese miso soup to taste: cabbage, mushrooms, boiled eggs, smoked eel, salmon, etc.
This Japanese dish is suitable for any time of the day - for breakfast, lunch and dinner.
