Japanese miso soup recipe

Miso soups (味噌汁) is the simplest and easy soup recipes to prepare. It is also very versatile where the ingredients can vary among vegetables, seafood, tofu, pork and chicken. The taste of the soups may be different depending of the ingredients, quantity of ingredients to be used. To cook a simple and smooth miso soup, always remember the rules / important point here - “Do not overcooked the miso” as miso require only a VERY short cooking time. Overcooking miso destroys the natural fragrant and the texture of the soup becomes rough to the tongue. As such, always cook other ingredients first, then just before serving, add in miso and stir until it dissolves.

Okay.. Having read the above point of cooking in Japanese miso soup recipe, let’s try soups of the day - “Miso soup with clams” (アサリの味噌汁).

Ingredients (Yields 4 servings)

400g asari (clams)
1 kombu(10cm)
4 cups water
3 1/2 tbsps red miso
salted water
chopped scallion
shichimi to taste

Preparations
Put the clams into a colander and place the colander in a large bowl of salted cold water (1 tbsp salt to 1 quart water). Let the clams stand in a cool place for 2 ~ 3 hours to expel any sand. Then wash and rinse the clams under cold running water. Add in the clams, kombu and water in a medium pot. Bring the mixture to boil over medium heat. When the water turns turbid white (muddy white), take out the kombu, reduce the heat, gently take the foam and white scum on top out. Boil for about 7 mins or until all clams are open. Turn off heat and add in the miso, wait for it to dissolve. Trasfer into individual bowls, top with chipped scallion, shichimi and serve hot with steamed rice.