Easy Japanese Miso Shiru Recipe: Miso Soup

When I lived in Japan I had miso soup almost everyday. So, when I left Japan and returned to Ireland I really missed the taste of real Japanese miso soup. I could buy miso soup sachets in Asian supermarkets and health stores or order miso soup in Asian restaurants around the country but none of them compared to the delicious taste of this simple recipe that you can make at home. 

Ingredients: 
1000ml dashi* (homemade or instant dashi)

180g potato (peeled and cut into small bite sized cubes) 
60g onion (peeled and thinly sliced)
2-3 tbsp miso* paste (you can add more if you like a stronger taste)

*Click here to see miso and dashi explained on my "Basic Japanese ingredients - what they are and where you can find them" post
*Click here to see my recipe for homemade dashi (fish stock)

Instructions: 

1. Put the dashi in a medium sized saucepan and turn the heat up to maximum. 
2. Once the dashi is boiling add the potatoes. 
3. When the potatoes are nearly cooked add the onion and continue to boil until the onion slices are nice and soft. 
4. Before adding the miso paste lower the heat allowing the dashi to simmer only. 
5. Dilute the miso paste in a cup of dashi taken from the saucepan. Then, add to the saucepan and gently mix all the ingredients. 

The miso soup is now ready! 

How to eat: 
Serve in a bowl with chopsticks or a spoon. Japanese people hold the bowl to their mouth to drink the soup. They use chopsticks to eat the bite size ingredients in the soup.

Tips:

1. Never boil the miso soup only allow to simmer.
2. Leave the chopped potato cubes into a bowl of cold water for a few minutes to remove excess starch before adding to the dashi.

Why not: 
Add tofu and wakame seaweed instead of potato and onion or any of your favourite vegetables.