Trying Miso

I’m not sure whether I had ever eaten miso before this week. I thought I would like to try it since fermented products are supposed to be good for you, specifically for your gut. So I bought a tub of miso paste and used it twice this week. I forgot to take photos of both my creations which is a shame because they actually looked pretty good!

Miso Soup #1

On Wednesday night I made my first ever miso soup. I did not use a recipe but I looked at a few online to see what kinds of things people usually add. I also picked up a tip about how to incorporate the miso into the soup. Apparently it doesn’t always mix in easily so most recipes suggested mixing it in a bowl with some of the hot soup broth first, so I did that. Whether or not it’s necessary, I don’t know, but I wouldn’t want to risk dealing with little bits of unmixed miso paste in my soup so I think I’ll keep doing it this way.

I started with garlic, ginger and green onions, chopped up fine, in a small amount of oil. After cooking a minute or so I added diced carrot and celery.

Then after a few more minutes I added some of my first ever homemade chicken stock and brought it to a boil. I put in a pack of instant ramen (without the flavoring sachet) and when that was just about cooked I added my miso paste. In all the recipes I looked at, the miso was added late in the process so, as I understand it, it does not need to be cooked very much. I added 1 tbsp of miso paste for every cup of stock.

I added the rest of my leftover roast chicken meat and some baby bok choy, and then tasted it. I thought it needed a little salt so I added some soy sauce, which is what I typically add to Asian dishes to make them more salty. Then I added a little rice wine vinegar and sesame oil.

I thought it was a good first attempt at miso and I really liked it. It was a little high in sodium but otherwise very healthy so that’s a bonus.

I made my husband try some (just the broth) and he thought it tasted like off chicken stock but that it wasn’t overly offensive. This means he thinks it’s edible. He talks like this about food all the time.

Miso Soup #2

On Friday night I made miso soup again, this time for my husband and my father-in-law too. My father-in-law comes every Friday for dinner and I’m worried about how I’m going to make meals I can eat that aren’t too boring for him in the coming weeks, but we’ll see how it goes. At least he’s not picky.

I started with the same base but no green onions as my husband would not eat it then. I used broccoli and carrot for the vegetables (my husband picks out the carrot), shrimp and wontons as the protein and instant ramen again as the noodles. I have some hokkien noodles I would have used instead but I didn’t quite have enough.

The wontons were homemade, filled with ground pork, garlic, ginger, soy sauce and hoisin sauce. I would put in some shredded cabbage and green onions, maybe grated carrot too, but then my husband wouldn’t eat them. So I keep them plain. I always make a whole bunch and then freeze them so that I have wontons for a few meals.

I’ll try and include a photo next time I make miso, and maybe try measuring things out so that I can share the exact recipe too.