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COOKING WITH MISO

Miso, also known as miso paste, is a Japanese paste made from soybeans. In Japan, it is most known for miso soup, which is eaten every day with Japanese meals. Japanese menus and sushi menus also have a selection of miso soups and dishes made with miso.
It is used to make a variety of flavourful broths which are used in soups, noodle dishes and can be added with other ingredients to make marinates for chicken, fish, and meat dishes.

Miso is made in several varieties; the most popular being white miso or red miso. You can also buy them as organic or non organic.

The white miso is a lighter tasting miso, whereas the red miso has more flavourness, and both types are salty. One tablespoon of miso paste has a sodium of about 250mg.

Each of them is made differently; the white miso with soybeans, white rice and fermented for a few months ; whereas red miso is made with white rice, soybeans and barley, and the fermention is many months to years.

Miso paste can be bought at Asian markets, and natural food stores. Organic will cost more than non organic per container. The shelf life is usually many months.

Dashi

In Japanese, broth is called 'dashi', the most popular being, fish- 'bonito', and vegetable- 'konbu'. You can make your own, or you can buy them premade. Since the premade are already seasoned all you do is add the water. You can buy the pre made in packets, powder; and bonito dashi is available in flakes as well; which is great for sprinkling on rice or noodle dishes as well as making broth.

Make Your Own Dashi

You can make your own vegetable dashi by adding a vegetable you choose to water to absorb the flavour. This flavoured water is then used as your broth(dashi) base . To that you can add miso paste, seasonings, vegetables, meats, fish; whatever you like.

Making Vegetable Dashi

The most popular vegetable dashi are `konbu`, and `shiitake mushroom`. Soybean dashi is also a commonly made vegetable broth. To make your own you need to buy the konbu (seaweed kelp) or dried shiitake mushrooms at the Asian market. For soybean dashi, buy the frozen shelled green soybeans at the local grocery store, natural food store, or asian market.

To make vegetable dashi with 'konbu'; cut a small piece of konbu (about 3x5) from the larger piece and soak in it a bowl with water for an hour or so to absorb the flavour.
Then filter the water through a fine strainer. Add the broth liquid to a pot; and if you like; add your miso paste, and additional ingredients like veges, fish, or meats.

To make vegetable dashi with 'soybeans'; buy the green frozen soybeans, bring to a boil 2 1/4 cups water, add 1 cup frozen soybeans, cook for about 15 minutes, simmering. Remove the soybeans, put liquid through fine strainer; put liquid back into pot, and the soybeans, and if you like; add the miso paste, and additional ingredients like vegetables, fish, meats.
To view soybean dashi with miso recipe go here.

For 'shiitake dashi'; shiitake mushrooms are prepared by soaking about a dozen or so of the dried mushrooms in a container with 2 1/4 cups water, for about 1 hour. Cover the bowl or container with saran wrap to make them air tight. Then filter your flavoured water into a fine strainer. Put the dashi(liquid) into a pot, and if you like; add the miso paste, and additional veges, fish, meats. To view shiitake dashi with miso recipe go here.

Adding The Miso Paste

Miso paste mixed with soy sauce.



Adding the miso paste is easy. For each 2 cups of dashi(broth) liquid you make, use 1 - 2 teaspoons of the miso paste. Before adding the miso paste, it must be mixed with water or other liquid like soy sauce to form a pasty smooth like paste. If you use 1 teaspoon miso paste, then mix it with 1 teaspoon water, or soy sauce. Soy sauce is good because it adds additional flavour to your broth.

Miso paste being added to the dashi.


Then place this paste on a tablespoon and put it into the dashi broth in the pot and swirl it around until the paste is absorbed into the dashi broth. Do not add the miso paste to a broth water that is boiling. The water can be hot, warm just not boiling.

Miso dashi.


Once your miso paste is mixed with the dashi; you have made dashi miso or dashi with miso. You can add additional seasonings, vegetables, and meats or fish, like chicken, pork, shrimp.

View: Vege Dishes

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