The deep flavor of red miso pairs very well with hearty ingredients such as seafood. In particular, seafood such as shell fish and white wish pair lovely with the robust flavor of red miso. Miso is rich in minerals, copper, manganese, protein, Vitamin K, and zinc. Therefore, drinking a bowl of miso soup daily is like taking a natural supplement for your health. 3. Good for bones You might find frozen fresh wakame. They are not cut into small pieces and are usually coated with salt to keep them fresh. So you’ll have take what you need and soak them in water to remove the saltiness before using it. In our last recipe post, we shared that we would be introducing different miso soup recipes using different miso pastes and ingredients. This time we will be introducing a miso soup recipe using red miso paste.

Depending on the region, season, and personal preference, you can enjoy many miso soup varieties in Japan. In addition to the classic tofu and wakame combination I show you today, we also use different savory ingredients such as veggies, meat, and seafood to make the soup. That’s why we can never get bored with it. Never boil miso soup once miso is added because it loses nutrients, flavors, and aromas. If you turn off the heat right before boiling, this temperature (203ºF/95ºC) is considered the most fragrant stage for miso soup. And by the time you are ready to enjoy the soup, it is an ideal temperature (167ºF/75ºC) for drinking.Most Japanese meals are served with a small bowl of steamed rice and a traditional Japanese soup called Miso Soup (味噌汁). At its most basic, miso soup is simply made of three components: The verdict: Awase miso is the best miso paste for miso soup. Unless you love a lot of smoke (like Ben does) in which case red miso paste will be your go-to ingredient. Miso paste: Use red miso paste if you like your miso soup very smoky and salty, white miso paste if you prefer a milder, gentler, and sweeter taste, and awase miso paste if you like it in between. With its beneficial probiotics, drinking miso soup helps to improve your overall digestion and absorption of nutrients. 2. Good source of nutrients Awase-miso sits in the middle from both a colour and saltiness perspective. Most miso paste you can buy at supermarkets outside Japan are awase-miso and I think that this is the most commonly used miso in Japan as well. Miso Soup Ingredients

There are many different types of miso in the market. In the US, most miso available at mainstream grocery stores goes by colors, such as white miso (shiro miso), red miso (aka miso), and yellow miso. Read this post if you want to dive deep into miso. If you want to make your own miso at home, read about it here. Besides tofu and wakame seaweed, you can add seasonal and year-round ingredients to your miso soup. Here are some simple ones: Many miso soup ingredients are vegetables. There are so many combinations you can make up and the possibilities are almost endless. I have created a separate post, Miso Soup Ingredient Combinations, where I have suggested some combinations of ingredients for miso soup. Ingredients in this post are all vegetables except one. How to Make Miso SoupMiso soup provides many bone-building minerals like calcium, magnesium, and manganese, which help to reduce the risk of developing osteoporosis. 4. Improve your heart

Silken or Soft Tofu (Kinugoshi Tofu 絹ごし豆腐) – Undrained and unpressed; the highest water content; a custardy texture. For root vegetables, cook them in cold dashi until they become tender, approximately 5-10 minutes (depending on the vegetables and cut). Then, cook leafy vegetables in the simmering dashi for a few minutes. For mushrooms and tofu, cook them until heated after you add miso to the dashi. Health Benefits of Miso Soup Shiro (白) means white and as the name implies, shiro-miso is a light coloured miso. It contains less salt than other types of miso and you can even taste a sweetness. It is preferred by the people in the western part of Japan such as Kyoto and Osaka. The most famous shiro-miso is called Saikyo Miso (西京味噌) meaning Kyoto style miso. Japanese cooking requires dashi in many recipes. You can make a big batch of dashi and store it in the refrigerator for up to 3-5 days or in the freezer for two weeks. Use dashi for different recipes throughout the week. With dashi on hand, you can make the basic miso soup in under 5minutes!I used firm tofu called momen-dofu as I like its flavour better than silken tofu and it is easier to handle. Silken tofu is also fine but be careful not to break the cubes as they are very soft. Eextra firm tofu does not suit a delicate soup like this. The quantity of tofu is also flexible. If you like tofu, increase the amount. The same applies to quantity of wakame.