Soup of The Day: Misoshiru

In my previous post, I have shared on how to make Japanese potato salad. How about learning another Japanese dish which is much more easier yet highly nourishing? Dont worry, it takes only minutes to prepare.. can be served as breakfast or part of the main meal. Let me introduce the soup of the day.... MISOSHIRU!

Before we start, let me tell you some nutrition fact about misoshiru. It is interesting to know that misoshiru contains anti-cancer characteristics. Long-term population studies in Japan revealed that people who eat misoshiru daily were statistically less likely to get several types of cancer and other chronic diseases. This is mainly because of the soybeans as the key ingredients in misoshiru. Soybeans are high in essential fatty acids, vitamin E, and saponins, cholesterol-like plant compounds. All of these compounds are involved in fighting, preventing and curing cancer.

So the ingredients that we are need to prepare today are miso (soybean paste), tofu (beancurd), and wakame seaweed. You can easily get all these ingredients from the groceries store.

Miso is actually a rich, earthy paste made from fermented soya beans. It can be categorized into white (shiromiso), red (akamiso) or black (kuromiso). So what is the difference? White miso has mild and sweet flavour while akamiso is saltier. The black one has even saltier and stronger in taste. If the label is not clear or in Japanese, trying spotting the color of the paste. White miso is pale gold in colour and red miso is more caramel brown. Black is even darker. Well, in this experiment, I used the red one simply because I like salty taste than sweet.

So what is wakame? It is actually curly-leafed seaweed, usually dehydrated and broken into small pieces. It swells quite fast when added into the water and has a soft texture. Hence if it's left soaked for too long, it can become slimy (liam liam). Tofu is soybean curd, pressed into blocks as fresh tofu or processed further. Tofu is often an ingredient in soups and stews.

Ingredients:
- miso (soybean paste)
- wakame seaweed
- tofu (beancurd)


Method:

1) Prepare a pot containing water. Boil it.

2) After the water is boiled, rinse the wakame quickly.

3) Put 2 tablespoon of miso paste into the pot containing boiling water. Stir well. Add in the wakame and tofu.

4) Tada!!!! Here is the misoshiru!

Mistake Made:

1) Rinse the wakame in the first step

By rinsing the wakame, you are extending the duration of exposure to water. It will only make the seaweed more slimer.

Lesson learnt: To prevent it, dont rinse it or if you have to, just immerse it in the water quickly after your pot of boiling water is ready..

2) Put in the wakame in the water first then only wait for it to boil

By the time the water boils, the wakame already swell till very big.. :(

Lesson learnt: Again, put the wakame into the water after the it is boiled.

3) Lack of ingredients

When the soup is served, we suddenly realized there is something lacked.. misoshiru without tofu is not like a real misoshiru..

Lesson learnt: Remember to get all the ingredients before start cooking. During shopping, dont sembang till forget to buy the necessary things!!! (im actually scolding myself :P)

But still, it tasted delicious... Dont believe? Ask my housemates :) For those who are too lazy to get the ingredients, wash the pot or even to boil the water, you can try out the instant miso soup. But warning! It might contain up to 3 times the amount of MSG of my recipe :D

*Again, credit goes to VM*