Thursday, March 08, 2007

Miso hungry . . .

. . . so I made miso soup!

I had a lengthy conversation with one of my coworkers about miso soup a while back, and he informed me that, according to his opinion, I don't actually make miso soup -- I make vegetable soup with miso in it. Technicality . . . whatever. Regardless of what you call it, I made soup for lunch! Yum:

example

I love adding tofu and soba to my miso soup, because then it's more of a whole meal in a bowl. Warm, slightly salty, gingery-garlicky goodness, with a bunch of richness from the miso. Nummy. And really, miso soup isn't miso soup, in my opinion, without mushrooms and greens. (I usually use spinach, but kale works well, too!)

This has been called "miso soup deluxe" before, which I suppose is a more fitting title!

6 comments:

Anonymous said...

Cute post title :)!
I love miso soup too! What kind/color miso do you use? There are so many interesting varieties out there--rice, barley, garbonzo...

Courtney

theONLYtania said...

Wait, I don't get it.. what would you have to do differently so you could call it miso soup? Whatever, looks great! Meal in a bowl.

MeloMeals said...

It looks fabulous to me.. was he all hung up on the fact that you didn't use Dashi?

Like ANYONE NEEDS dried fish to make a damn soup!

bazu said...

Dashi aside, I think Japanese people often load up their miso soups with vegetables, so I don't think that it needs to be plain to be miso (like the kind you get in restaurants)... is that what your co-worker meant?

I'm a miso-addict anyway, so I'd eat it in any shape or form!

KleoPatra said...

That is a great soup, no matter what it's called. I love all of your ingredients in there... most of which i can see in that nice photograph. YUMMY!!!

Catherine Weber said...

Courtney, thanks! Right now, I have a white soy miso in my fridge, which I like a lot. I may pick up a more full-flavored miso next time, though -- just something different!

Tania, my coworker thinks that miso soup is only a broth made from dashi and konbu, with miso, firm tofu, and green onion. I use a basic powdered veggie broth (Rapunzel brand,) tofu, usually soba noodles, and whatever veggies I have on hand that need to be used up.

Melody, yeah, the absence of both dashi and konbu, plus the addition of all the extra veggies was his situation. Whatev. ;-)

Bazu, thanks for the miso soup info! I'll have to counter with that fun fact the next time I get corrected . . . "don't you mean, miso-FLAVORED soup?" Ah, whatever. He means well.

Kleo, thanks! I especially love the combination of tofu, mushroom, and greens. MMMMMMMM delish.