I’ve recently had a newly developed love for miso. I think it’s thanks to becoming a subscriber to NYT Cooking. They have a lot of great recipes that use miso. It all started with these peanut butter miso cookies that caught my eye. Apparently they were a happy accident when someone ran out of peanut butter. I’ve never liked peanut butter cookies much, but I’m all about these. Definitely give them a try, the chewy center and crunchy outside coated with thick sugar grains is quite an experience.
But today we’re here to talk about miso soup. The peanut butter miso cookies only call for 1/3 cup of miso. So I’m now left with a tub of white miso and decided to make some soup. It’s quite easy, and the key is just avoiding that separation you often get with restaurant miso soup, especially the complimentary ones they serve at the beginning of a meal. Don’t get me wrong, I like getting that free bowl of miso, but have you noticed you always have to stir it right after it’s put on the table?
To achieve a silky, nicely incorporated miso soup, there is one key step to follow.
Mix your miso paste with your heated water & stock with a whisk
You can do this 2 ways. Have your heated water and stock in a bowl and mix in your miso paste with a whisk until smooth. Then transfer it all into a pot to cook through with the rest of your ingredients like tofu or seaweed. I like kabocha squash in mine.
Or, if you want to shortcut like me, heat up your water and stock on medium heat. Then incorporate your miso paste straight into the pot and whisk. It’s a little harder to get an even whisk this way, but you skip a step and an extra big mixing bowl to wash.
In terms of proportions of miso paste to water, I do 1 cup of water, 1/2 cup of stock to every 1 tablespoon of miso paste.
JULIENNE CARROTS 