Japanese chefs say that you cannot make miso soup without beginning with a dashi broth. It is all-important and indispensable. Dashi is synonymous with umami, and the perfection of it is the Holy Grail for Japanese master chefs. It can be made from kombu (dried kelp), katsuobushi (dried bonito flakes) or iriko (dried anchovies), shiitake (dried mushrooms), or a combination of all the above.
Kombu + katsuobushi is the classic. I’ve given a recipe for dashi before in the Gazette but it bears repeating here.
Broth Made with Kombu and Shaved Bonito – the traditional method.
Kombu and Dry Bonito Flakes
Ingredients
6 cups water
3 inch square kombu
2 cups dry shaved bonito
½ cup soy sauce
2 Tbl mirin
Instructions
Place the kombu in cold water and over low heat bring it just up to the simmer. Remove. (You can also let kombu stand in cold water overnight, remove and continue with the recipe.) Turn on the heat again and when the water comes just up to the boil, add the bonito flakes, simmer for 30 seconds and turn off the heat. When the bonito flakes have settled to the bottom, strain the dashi. The kombu and bonito flakes can be used a second time to make a weaker stock.
Instant Dashi Broth
Home cooks and restaurant chefs also use instant dashi. These fish stock granules are much better than any instant meat or vegetable stock. They can also be used as a very concentrated seasoning powder. Hondashi brand, my favorite, is available at Japanese markets or online.
Ingredients
6 cups water
3 Tbl hon-dashi
2 Tbl mirin
Up to ½ cup soy sauce, to taste
Miso Soup
Miso-Shiru
Ingredients
4 cups dashi
¼ cup miso or more to taste.
Use the more delicate white miso for spring and summer, the more pungent red miso for fall and winter. Chef JT Vuong suggests that blending barley miso with some sweet saikyo miso creates “a well-balanced miso soup that is both rich and elegant for all seasons.”
Garnish suggestions
Seaweed, tofu, seasonal vegetables, mushrooms, scallion, fine somen or buckwheat noodles.
Instructions
Soften the miso with warm dashi and whisk to combine. Gradually whisk the softened miso into the rest of the broth. Remove from the heat just before the soup boils.
Put room temperature garnishes into the soup bowls. Ladle in the hot miso soup. Never boil miso soup as it diminishes the flavor and aroma.
Christopher Kimball’s Miso Broth
Here is a quick broth made without using dashi. Use this broth anywhere you might use vegetable or chicken broth…in soups, stews, risotto or grain dishes.
Ingredients
4 cloves garlic, smashed
2 inch chunk of ginger, peeled and smashed
1 chopped shallot
½ cup white miso
4 cups water
Instructions
In a large saucepan, combine garlic, ginger and chopped shallot with 4 cups of water and simmer for about 2 minutes. Wisk in the white miso and cook over low flame for 5 minutes before straining out the solids.
For a quick and hearty soup, add diced chicken or tofu, chopped bok choy, sliced scallions, a drizzle of sesame oil and an optional sprinkle of the Japanese chili condiment, shichimi togarashi.