A quick miso soup

Yesterday I was waiting for a service person from the cable company to arrive and update my box (whatever that may mean) and couldn’t leave the house.  When it became time for lunch, I didn’t have a lot of options.  The chicken tagine I’d been eating for the last couple of days was gone and the refrigerator was looking pretty bare. Time to look at the pantry and the freezer.

In the pantry, I found I had the basics of dashi.  Dashi is a Japanese broth made from bonito flakes (shaved pieces of dried tuna) and konbu (a kind of seaweed).  There was a time when I thought that making good Asian food was way beyond my competence but I’ve since found that if you can find the ingredients and get a good introduction, Asian food isn’t that difficult and is almost always delightful.  My introduction for dashi comes from James Peterson’s Cooking (see the bookshelf).  I’ve got four of Peterson’s books and I love the way he writes about cooking and how his books are organized.

His instructions for dashi are simplicity itself.  Put 1 oz of konbu in cold water and bring to a simmer.  Discard the konbu and bring the water to a boil.  Add 1 oz of bonito flakes and turn off the heat.  Let steep for a minute, then strain and you’re all set. Couldn’t be simpler, right?  Except where do you find bonito flakes and konbu?  My first attempt was the local Whole Foods and while they had both the first time I made dashi, they haven’t had both together at the same time since.  There’s a large Asian grocery store not too far away and I’ll occasionally stock up there, but the real solution is Amazon.  Really.  They carry the same brands I found in both Whole Foods and the Asian grocery store and it can be a lot more convenient.

So while letting the broth simmer, I had to figure out what to do with it because broth on its own isn’t very interesting.  I didn’t see anything in the pantry, but I in the freezer, I found some cooked shrimp and frozen peas.  In the fridge was some leftover miso and some salad stuff.  If you don’t cook Asian food, you’re not likely to have any miso kicking around but if you do cook Asian food, partially filled packages are inevitable.  So I measured out a cup of the peas, about the same amount of shrimp, and about the same amount of herbs, watercress, and scallions that were part of the salad stuff.  I completed the dashi, used a couple of table spoons to make a smooth paste out of the miso and whisked the paste back into the dashi.  Add the shrimp, peas, and greens, and turn the heat back to simmer.  When I tasted it, I thought it needed a little more edge, and after debating between fish sauce and soy sauce, I added a couple tablespoons of soy sauce and it was done.  A delicious, beautiful, and nourishing midday soup that took less than 20 minutes to make.

Recipe

Ingredients

1 oz bonito flakes

1 oz konbu

5 cups water

3 tbl miso

6 oz shrimp

1 cup peas (frozen are OK)

1 cup fresh herbs, roughly chopped

soy sauce to taste

There are many substitutions that can be made here.  Mushrooms, shredded chicken or pork, crabmeat, or bay scallops would all work as well as the shrimp.  Snap peas, julienned carrots, asparagus, and green beans could all be the primary vegetable if you cut them in a way that complements the protein.

Directions

Add the konbu and water to a saucepan on medium high and bring to a simmer (about 15 minutes).  Discard the konbu.  Bring to a boil and then add the konbu and turn off the heat.  Steep for 1 minute, then pour through a fine mesh strainer into a bowl.  Put the broth back into the saucepan and return to the stove on low heat.

Take one or two tablespoons of the broth and add to the miso.  Whisk into a smooth paste and whisk the paste back into the broth.

Add the shrimp, peas, and herbs.  If using uncooked shrimp, turn the heat up to medium low so you can cook them a little faster.  After everything warms up, taste and adjust the seasoning with soy sauce.