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There are so many uses for miso. So far, I have only used it to make soup. It helps digestion due to the probiotics naturally found in miso. One of the best soups I ever had was a dry package of miso and some water from a brook. It was a cool and wet day and my buddy and I had been hiking for days. We gathered some water from a brook and took a well deserved break to make some miso magic. It was just what the doctor had ordered; A nice warm nutritious soup to replenish the body. To this day, we still talk about that ammazing bowl of miso.

When I am not out on an excursion, I keep Miso Paste in the fridge for those miso days. Today was one of them.

I have only experimented with miso about three times, but with some great results. It is so easy. If you wanted to you could just warm up some water to the boil. Take it off the heat and then add some miso paste. Mix it in and add more according to taste. And viola, you have miso. I like to take it a few steps further than that.

Traditional Miso Soup is the paste, Dashi, some Tofu cubes, and Scallions. Dashi is a stock made from kelp and dried, smoked tuna. So since we run a vegetarian house, we will just use the Miso Paste. Heres the recipe I made today:

Ingredients:

The Stock
Potatoes
Fall Greens (from the garden)
Leeks or Scallions
Tofu
Brown Rice
Spice Rub (below)

Put some water (more than 2 cups) on the boil for the rice. Place 1 cup of brown rice into a small pot with a tablespoon of butter. Medium High Heat up and mix in butter until kernels brown a bit. Be careful not to burn the rice. And if you do, and its not too burnt, don’t worry, it will still be good. Put the water into the saucepan, turn the heat all the way down. Cover with lid and walk away for 40 minutes.

Make a rub for the tofu consisting of: Five Spice Powder, Galanga (dried), ginger (dried,ground), garlic powder, cayenne pepper, cumin, corriander, turmeric, salt & pepper

I cut up a block of tofu into three blocks and coat them with the rub and set them to the side. Then, I picked some bok choy and kale from the garden, washed and chopped them and put up some water to boil.

Sear Tofu in a pan on both sides for 3-5 minutes each and take off heat.

Meanwhile, Put another pot on the boil for the potatoes. Cut a few potatoes into bite site pieces . Salt water and place potatoes in.

Chop up kale (taking out big stems) and chop up bok choy. Take big pot with steamer tray and pour boiling water into the pot until it comes a bit below the tray. Place kale into pot and close the lid. Let the pot sit and steam the greens for about 15 minutes. I kept the bok choy to the side to add at the end because the stems and leaves were not as tough as the kale.

After rice has 40 minutes, take off heat and let sit with lid on for 10 minutes. Then, take lid off and fluff up rice.

Take another large pot and fill up with as much water as you want broth. Turn heat on high. Chop up scallions or leeks. If leeks, add to water at this point. Bring to boil and take off heat. Dilute Miso Paste in some water and add mixture to the hot water. Taste broth. Add more paste if necessary until satisfied with miso flavor.

Take potatoes off heat after 10 minutes and strain out.

Assemble your soup one bowl at a time. I place in rice first, add block of tofu on top, potatoes and greens around and ladel in a generous amount of broth. Pepper on top and viola.

I have made similar versions of this miso soup with other ingredients such as: mushrooms, brussel sprouts (good one).  Here’s a link to a similar soup.