Miso Soup

'ミソスープ作る手は　優しさに溢れてた
大きくない僕だから
寒くしないように　温めてくれた
そんな優しさ　会いたくなるね'

Well, that's Miso Soup song from Tegomasu, basically the song is about how miso soup reminds the person of his mom's TLC. Well, I'd think there'd be a pack of miso paste in most Japanese household, so miso soup is kinda basic home cooking for them. But, what about us? We've seen the 1001 varieties of miso soup served in restaurants. Is it difficult to make, though? NOPE, but you do need to have a good miso paste and good tofu, else, it's not satisfying at all. My favorite miso soup will be those with mushrooms, especially nameko. Nameko is slimy and in miso soup, it's soften up the flavor and it doesn't have that mushroomy smell.

Yield: 2 person

What you need:

1/2 pack of nameko

1/2 carrot, thin quarter slices

1/4 leek, julienned

1/2 pack tofu, cut 1cm cubes

500ml water

2 tbsp miso paste or about 1/2 soup laddle

1 tbsp soyu (optional)

How to:

1. Boil water and carrots

2. Add on miso paste. Using laddle, place miso paste on the boiling water and using chopstick, break the paste bit by bit. If you want to break it faster, use the small strainer.

3. Add on nameko and leek, these cook very fast so you don't need to wait very long before you off the fire.

4. On a bowl, place the tofu and pour in the soup, and you're done.

Tips:

1. Miso soup is the base for other soups. Add on pork belly and konyaku, and you have a tonjiru.

2. If you want to have a fancy version, change water to chicken stock or bonito stock.

3. You can play with other ingredients eg. bamboo shoots, wakame seaweeds, and other type of mushrooms eg. enoki, bunashimeji, etc.

This is what I call a good lunch *hohoho*

Enjoy!