The benefits of the Japanese dish misosiru, cooking features and the most successful combinations of ingredients. TOP 7 recipes for miso soup at home, serving rules. Video recipes.
Miso soup (misosiru) is a traditional Japanese dish consisting mainly of dashi broth and dissolved miso paste. In Japan, it is also popular as ramen or sushi. This soup, the composition of which may vary depending on the region and season, has not only an excellent taste and mouth-watering aroma, but also perfectly satisfies hunger and saturates the entire body with useful substances.
The benefits of Japanese miso soup
Japan is a country with very distinctive traditions and customs. This originality is also manifested in the national cuisine. Misosiru is one of the most striking representatives of Japanese dishes.
The ingredients in it are familiar to the Japanese. Miso seasoning has a long history, the first mention of it dates back to the Dzemen era (13000 BC - 300 AD). It was then that the special properties of fermentation were noticed. It allowed food to be stored for a longer period and improved its taste characteristics.
Already in the 6th century, making miso and using it to create various dishes spread throughout Japan. Many orientalists are inclined to argue that pasta first appeared in China, and then came to Japan during the spread of Buddhism. Then this dish was considered a delicacy and was served only to the nobility.
But soon the farmers themselves learned how to produce the ingredients for this soup, thanks to which it began to spread among the common people. And with the outbreak of war in the 12th century, the need for easy-to-transport, quick-to-prepare, hearty and nutritious meals increased, which also increased the popularity of miso soup.
Misosiru is a delicious and easy-to-make soup that will not only warm you in the winter cold, but also benefit your health. Next, let's talk about the benefits of miso soup:
- Reduces the risk of developing cancer. The data is confirmed by studies of the Japanese National Cancer Center.
- Boosts immunity and overall health thanks to its high antioxidant content.
- Removes radionuclides from the body. This was indirectly confirmed by research in the 60s of the 20th century.
- Improves digestion, stimulates the formation of gastric juice.
- Lowers cholesterol levels.
- Carries out the prevention of cardiovascular diseases, due to the content of useful trace elements (in particular, lecithin).
- Protects the liver from harmful substances, relieves hangover symptoms.
Miso paste made from soybeans contains a large amount of proteins, beneficial enzymes and trace elements. It is well absorbed by the body and, in terms of the content of nutrients, can even give odds to the famous kelp seaweed, which, by the way, is also considered one of the main ingredients of the soup.
Features of cooking misosiru
Japanese miso soup can be made quickly and easily at home, but it is also very easy to spoil. To prevent this, you need to know the features of its preparation, which we will talk about further.
The basis of this dish is miso pasta. It is made from ground soybeans, wheat or rice that have been fermented with a special type of mushroom. It is diluted in boiled and cooled water to 40 degrees, and then added to dashi or to a broth made from vegetables, meat or fish. For 1-2 liters, about 250-300 g of pasta are often taken. You cannot throw it straight into the broth, otherwise it will not dissolve well and form lumps.
In the preparation of miso soup, it is customary to use a spoonful of soy or fish broth dashi, which is often replaced by hondashi (dried fish broth in granules). This gives the dish a distinctive aroma and flavor. There are mainly 4 types of dashi broth: bonito (tuna shavings), naboshi (dried anchovies), kombu (kelp plates) and dried shiitake mushrooms. The powder is diluted in water, placed on the stove and brought to a boil to warm up the ingredients.
Traditionally, the complementary ingredients of misosiru are selected according to the season to better emphasize the flavor of the dish. Also, texture, color and taste play an important role. However, a single dish rarely combines a large number of ingredients.
Miso soup can also include:
- Tofu - vegetable cheese made from soybeans. It is cut into small cubes (about 1 cm) and sometimes fried beforehand.
- Green onions - adds piquancy to taste and serves as an excellent decoration. Feathers need to be cut diagonally.
- Sesame oil - makes the broth more fatty and enhances the taste of products.
- Noodles - a nourishing ingredient that will satisfy hunger and make the soup thick.
- Sesame seed - an oriental seasoning that goes well with all the ingredients of the soup.
- Other components … Potatoes, zucchini, garlic, salmon, mushrooms, eel, shrimps, daikon, Adyghe cheese, chicken, beef - this is not a complete list of what can be added to misosira.
Considering all the variety of products allowed for use, the question arises, how to prepare miso soup so that the ingredients in it are harmoniously combined? Next, let's look at this issue in more detail.
Here are some helpful tips for successfully combining miso soup ingredients:
- Ingredients should be small in size, not very hard, not very crunchy.
- The combination of floating and sinking ingredients is the main quality of a good miso soup. The most popular "floating" ones include: algae, green onions, sesame seeds, etc., the "sinking" ones - potatoes, tofu, noodles, fish.
- Do not mix meat and fish in the same dish.
- It is necessary to harmoniously combine crunchy and soft ingredients.
The most successful combinations of ingredients for miso soup:
- Perch + mega (a vegetable from the Ginger family);
- Soba noodles + shrimps + nori;
- Shiitake + tofu;
- Funchoza + wakame seaweed + frying (carrots + onions);
- Udon + chicken + shiitake;
- Chicken + spinach + potatoes + cauliflower;
- Radish + cucumber + chives + lemon;
- Salmon + wakame seaweed.
The raw ingredients are placed in a bowl just before serving, and vegetables, meat or fish are pre-boiled or fried. Next, let's take a look at the most popular, delicious and simple miso soup recipes.
TOP 7 miso soup recipes
The following recipes for making miso soup at home present various combinations of ingredients and several cooking methods, to fully understand the correct combination of ingredients in a dish and for a better idea of what can be substituted for them.
Simple Instant Miso Soup
The recipe for this miso soup with tofu and seaweed involves the use of ready-made ingredients - broth and pasta. The soup is very light and low-calorie, but no less tasty and healthy. Instant miso soup is a great breakfast option before work.
- Caloric content per 100 g - 35 kcal.
- Servings - 2
- Cooking time - 20 minutes
Ingredients:
- Tofu - 3 tablespoons
- Dashi broth - 2.5 cups
- Miso pasta - 2 tablespoons
- Nori seaweed to taste
- Shallots - 5 g
How to make a simple miso soup step by step:
- Cut the cheese into small cubes.
- In a saucepan with warm water, dissolve the dashi broth and put it on the fire. After boiling, reduce the heat to a minimum. Add seaweed and boil for 1-3 minutes.
- Pour a small amount of broth into a bowl, cool to 40 degrees and dissolve the miso paste, then pour it into the soup and stir.
- Throw in the cheese cubes and heat the soup for another 2 minutes.
- Pour into bowls and garnish with beautifully chopped onions.
Important! Put both tofu and miso only in a non-boiling broth and after that do not boil the soup anymore, as such ingredients lose their taste and useful properties at high temperatures.
Classic miso soup
The classic miso soup is made from ingredients familiar and simple for the Japanese. For Russians, these components are a little exotic, but they can be increasingly found on store shelves. To make homemade miso soup according to the rules, you need to use traditional ingredients and try not to replace them with anything. If a specific product is not sold in your city, then you can order it via the Internet.
Ingredients:
- Kombu seaweed - 2 pcs.
- Bonito tuna shavings - 200 g
- Water - 200 ml
- Miso pasta - 2 tablespoons
- Nori - 1 sheet
- Tofu to taste
- Soy sauce to taste
How to prepare the classic miso soup step by step:
- Put the kombu seaweed in a bowl and cover them with cold water for half an hour.
- After the specified time, place a pot of water on the stove, add the swollen kombu and boil. Then turn off the stove and take out the algae, but do not throw it away, as they can be reused to make the broth.
- Add the tuna flakes to the broth and let it brew for 5 minutes. Strain the finished dashi broth and set the shavings aside with the kombu.
- Dissolve the miso paste with a little broth in a bowl, stir and pour into a saucepan.
- Cut the tofu into cubes and cut the nori into squares. Place in a saucepan and turn on low heat to heat the ingredients for about 2-3 minutes.
- Pour into bowls, garnish with chopped onions and add some soy sauce to taste to adjust the salinity.
Miso soup with shiitake mushrooms
Miso soup with funchose noodles and Japanese mushrooms cooks quickly and turns out to be delicious. The main thing is to get quality ingredients.
Ingredients:
- Tofu - 250 g
- Dashi - 850 g
- Shiitake - 100 g
- Miso - 3 tablespoons
- Green onions - 8 g
- Funchoza - to taste
Note! If you want to make a real miso soup with shiitake, then you need to take Japanese mushrooms, any others will not work.
How to prepare shiitake mushroom miso soup step by step:
- Cut the tofu into cubes, the mushrooms into strips, chop the onion.
- Dissolve the fish broth in water and bring to a boil.
- Add mushrooms to broth and cook over medium heat for 3 minutes.
- In a bowl of broth, dissolve the miso paste and drain into a saucepan.
- Reduce heat, add cheese, and after 2 minutes remove dishes from heat.
- Prepare funchoza according to the instructions and place in portions in bowls.
- Pour the soup into bowls and garnish with chopped onion feathers.
Important! Misosiru is best cooked in small portions so that it can be eaten in one go without having to refrigerate it. After defrosting and reheating, it will no longer have the same taste and aroma properties.
Miso soup with salmon and shrimps
Delicious, nutritious and aromatic miso soup with seafood is prepared quickly, such a dish will delight all lovers of fish soups or Japanese cuisine. Miso soup with shrimps and salmon will be an excellent treat for guests and will decorate any table.
Ingredients:
- Miso - 30 g
- Hon-dashi - 10 g
- Funchoza ready - 20 g
- Water - 200 ml
- Salmon - 25 g
- Royal shrimps - 2 pcs.
- Shallot onion - 1 feather
- Hazelnuts - 5 g
- Sesame seed - 5 g
Step by step cooking of miso soup with salmon and shrimps:
- Dissolve the hon-dashi in a saucepan with water and bring to a boil.
- Dilute miso with a ladle of broth and pour back.
- Add shrimps and salmon, cook the soup for 2-3 minutes.
- Grind the hazelnuts and place on the bottom of the tureen. Add chopped onion, sesame seeds and boiled noodles there (you can cut it in half).
- Pour over the soup and serve.
Miso soup with salmon and rice
Salmon miso soup is an excellent, rich fish soup with an oriental flavor. This variation of the Japanese dish will surprise even those who are not accustomed to oriental cuisine with its magnificent piquant taste.
Ingredients:
- Salmon fillet - 400-450 g
- Nori seaweed - 1 sheet
- Sesame seed - 30-40 g
- Water - 3 liters.
- Miso pasta - 3 tablespoons
- Tuna shavings - 2 tablespoons
- Soy sauce to taste
- Rice - 200 g
- Ginger - 10 g
Step by step cooking of miso soup with salmon and rice:
- Fresh salmon fillets must be pre-marinated with salt for 12 hours, then rinsed and fried on a grill or pan with a little oil. Cut the fish into cubes.
- Cook rice and mix with fish.
- Cut nori, put in a saucepan and pour in cold water. Boil.
- Reduce heat, add tuna and 1-2 tablespoons of soy sauce. Cook for 2 minutes.
- Pour the broth over the miso, stir well and pour back into the pot. Remove from heat.
- Put the salmon with rice in portions into a serving bowl, pour over the broth. Garnish with ginger and serve.
Miso soup with mussels and yourself
Another tasty and simple variation of this dish. The miso soup of mussels with buckwheat noodles turns out to be hearty, rich and aromatic, in the best traditions of oriental cuisine.
Ingredients:
- Wakame seaweed - 1 tablespoon
- Miso paste - 1/2 cup
- Tofu - 1/2 cup
- Dasi - 2 tsp
- Mussels to taste
- Soba to taste
- Green onions - for decoration
Step-by-step preparation of miso soup with mussels and yourself:
- Pour dashi powder into boiling water and stir. Cook the broth for a couple of minutes.
- Fill the miso with broth and, stirring, pour into a saucepan. Reduce heat to minimum.
- Cut the cheese into cubes and toss it with the wakame into the broth, simmer for about 2-3 minutes.
- Divide the cooked soba into bowls in portions. Add ready-made mussels there.
- Pour the broth, sprinkle with chopped onion on top.
Chicken miso soup
Chicken miso soup is prepared in chicken broth with vegetables, which is more familiar to Russians, but no less healthy and tasty.
Ingredients:
- Chicken breast - 1 pc.
- Wakame - 0.3 packs
- Miso pasta - 3 tablespoons
- Bulb onions - 1 pc.
- Carrots - 1 pc.
- Rice vinegar - 3 tablespoons
- Soy sauce - 4 tablespoons
- Glass noodles - 50 g
- Green onions - to taste
How to make chicken miso soup step by step:
- Prepare chicken broth: for this you need to throw chicken, carrots and onions into a pot of water and cook until the chicken is cooked.
- Strain the broth, chop the breast and fry on the grill or skillet.
- Dilute the pasta with broth, mix thoroughly.
- Put the seaweed in the broth, bring to a boil and reduce the heat.
- Prepare the noodles according to the instructions on the package, then put them in the broth along with soy sauce, vinegar and miso. After 3 minutes, turn off the heat.
- Put the fried chicken pieces and chopped onion into the cups, pour over the soup.
How is misosira eaten?
Following Japanese tradition, miso soup should be eaten for breakfast. But, unlike in Russia, in Japan soups, including misosiru, are not the first course, they are consumed at the end of the meal. The food is served in small lacquered bowls, covered with lids on top - this protects the dish from chapping and cooling. No cutlery other than chopsticks is used.
Consider how miso soup is eaten according to national Japanese kitchen etiquette:
- Remove the lid and place it to the right of the misosiru container, with the inside facing up.
- Lift the bowl and take a few sips of the broth (the left hand holds the bottom of the vessel, the right gives balance).
- After the broth is finished, eat the hard ingredients (seafood, tofu, vegetables) using the chopsticks with your right hand.
- When you finish your meal, close the bowl with the lid.
So, you can easily get involved in Japanese dining culture. Despite the traditions, in modern Japan, misosiru can often be found in both lunch and evening menus, so you can order this dish in Japanese restaurants at any time of the day.
Miso soup video recipes
As you can see, there is nothing difficult in preparing a real fragrant and nutritious Japanese soup - a delicious oriental dish can be prepared at home in just 15 minutes. Once only the elite of Japan could afford the food, it is now widespread throughout the world and available to everyone. It will not be difficult to get the necessary ingredients, thanks to which you can enjoy tasty and healthy food and become familiar with the cultures of different peoples.
