This past weekend, I made this incredible loaded miso soup with a traditional dashi and miso base and topped it with high-protein tofu (from my favorite place ever – Trader Joes), buckwheat soba noodles, leeks, scallions, baby bok choy, snap peas, shiitake mushrooms, and nori.
If you haven’t guessed already, miso is one of my favorite ingredients and I keep my fridge stocked with both red and white miso paste at ALL times. Honestly, I foresee an entire post dedicated to miso in my future.
For this soup, I used both red and white miso and the result was phenomenal. I started by making a dashi stock witha quick dashi stock packet I typically find in the Japanese section of my local grocery store. Dashi forms the base of many Japanese dishes and is made of kombu (kelp), dried bonito flakes, dried anchovies, and dried mushrooms.
Dashi is what gives miso soup that umami flavor that we all LOVE.
If Dashi is unavailable, you can certainly skip it and still end up with a great miso soup, although it will not have the distinct umami flavor that you taste in authentic Japanese soups and dishes.
Boiling miso will end up killing its probiotic properties – don’t add miso to boiling water. After making the dashi, I combine a little bit of the dashi warm liquid with miso paste to thin out the miso paste before adding it to the soup.
For the toppings, I added mushrooms and pretty much every green vegetable I could find. The snap peas and baby bok choy were my favorite additions. The soba noodles made the soup more satisying and enough to eat alone as a meal. You can switch and substitute things out as you like. I have some leftover shishito peppers that I might toss in my next bowl.
loaded miso soup
Miso soup loaded with tofu, soba noodles, leeks, scallions, bok choy, shiitake mushrooms, snap peas, parsley, and nori.
Ingredients
- 1 16-ounce package tofu, firm or extra-firm
- 1 dashi stock packet
- 1/2 teaspoon toasted sesame oil
- 2 cloves garlic, minced
- 1/2 teaspoon fresh ginger, grated
- 1 tablespoon mirin
- 1 tablespoon soy sauce
- 1 leek, chopped
- 1/2 cup miso paste, red and/or white
- 1 package of buckwheat soba noodles
- scallions, chopped
- baby bok choy, leaves separated
- snap or snow peas, whole
- shiitake mushrooms, thinly sliced
- parsley
- sheets of nori / seaweed
Instructions
- Start by pressing the tofu to release excess liquid: Place block of tofu on a plate or cutting board between two paper towels. Leave a plate or large can on top of the tofu for about 20 minutes and then chop the tofu into small cubes.
- Using one dashi packet, make dashi stock according to the package. The dashi packet I use has the following instructions: Place dashi packet in a saucepan with 2 cups of water. Bring the water to a simmer on medium heat and then remove the packet after 3 minutes. Remove from heat and set aside and allow to cool for about 5 minutes.
- In a small mixing bowl, combine miso and about half of the dashi stock to thin out the miso paste – stir until fully combined and set aside. In a large stockpot or dutch oven, sauté garlic and ginger in sesame oil on medium heat for about 1 minute – be careful not to burn. Add mirin and soy sauce and continue stirring for another minute. Add leeks, the miso mixture, and the remaining dashi stock.
- In the saucepan you cooked the dashi stock, cook soba noodles according to package, rinse and set aside.
- In each serving bowl, serve the miso soup broth with soba noodles and top with a few spoonfuls of chopped tofu, chopped scallions, bok choy leaves, snap peas, mushrooms, parsley and a sheet of nori.
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