Fighting COVID-19 - Easiest Recipe for Miso Soup 我が家の手抜き味噌汁😁

Japanese follows English.　英語の後に日本語が続きます。

What do you think this is? If you know the answer, you must be a Japanese food expert!!

Niboshi makes very good dashi broth for miso soup! 我が家は煮干しだし！  

This is niboshi or iriko, i.e., dried infant sardines often used to make miso soup stocks. So, let me tell you how I make miso soup using niboshi!! Don't worry. It's very simple and easy. The photos below show the ingredients I often use (see below for usual ingredients of miso soup and their characteristics) and the miso soup I made using them.

Carrot, komatsuna (Japanese mustard spinach) and potato 人参、小松菜、ジャガイモ 

Bon Appétit! 出来上がり！

The easiest recipe for miso soup:
1. Put several niboshi* and water into a saucepan/pot. 

2. Boil the water (with the niboshi).

3. After the water is boiled, add whatever you want (see below) or find in the fridge.

4. After all the ingredients are boiled, put miso onto a ladle and gradually add boiled water to dissolve it.  

* I use 2 per person, but you can use more to make dashi broth richer.

What? When do I take out the niboshi from the soup??? I don't because I eat niboshi. Niboshi contains a lot of calcium. (Of course you can take them out before eating.) 

If you worry about the ingredients of miso soup, don't! Because anything is okay such as:

 PORK            Increases umami (see below)* and fillingness. 

 WHITE FISH   Increases umami and fillingness (less greasy than pork miso soup).

 CLAM            Doubles umami! (my favorite!!)

 MUSHROOM   Increases umami, too.

 SPINACH       Should be added right before miso as it tastes bitter if too boiled.  

 KOMATSUNA  Mustard spinach is my favorite because its color loss is less than spinach. 

 RADISH         Good texture. I recommend shredded radish!  

 CARROT        Also good and naturally sweetens the soup.

 EGGPLANT    Mushy eggplants are yummy!

 LEEK             Traditional and good with (fried) tofu, too.

 CABBAGE      Naturally sweetens the soup and good with (fried) tofu, too.

 OKRA            Good texture with mucilage.  

 TURNIP         Warms your body in winter!

 TARO            Soft texture with miso!!  

 ONION          Naturally sweetens the soup.

 PUMPKIN       Also naturally sweetens the soup.

 POTATO         Soft and fluffy texture. My husband's favorite.

* Umami is a savory taste, a characteristic of broths and cooked meats.

Needless to say, every one of the above ingredients and any other ingredients go well with tofu, fried tofu (aburaage), and/or wakame seaweed. You can pick one or more than one ingredient, for example:

- Dried tofu, leek and wakame seaweed (Traditional miso soup!)

- Tofu, pork, carrot, cabbage, and mushroom (More filling preferred to by hungry kids!)

- Tofu, spinach, and potato (my husband's favorite combination!)

Yoshiharu Doi, a Japanese chef and food consultant, advocates "one soup and one side dish" saying that "one soup and one side dish" is enough for a meal in terms of nutrition and fillingness. I can't agree more. 

A tip on making good niboshi dashi broth: Put niboshi and water in a saucepan and leave it in the fridge for a day, which doubles or triples umami!

If you have to stay at home, why don't you take this opportunity to try this simple miso soup recipe!😊 This should improve your immune system, which is far more important than before in Japan because we can no longer get proper medical treatment because of too many Covid patients..... 

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我が家の味噌汁（人参、小松菜、ジャガイモ）と煮干しだしです。煮干しは取り出さずそのまま食べます。具沢山です。味噌汁というより「味噌煮」といった感じでしょうか。

豚汁もよく作りますし、魚味噌汁も、ケンチン風味噌汁も作りま～す。コロナにかかってももう入院できない今、少しでも免疫上げようと日々頑張っております。

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