When I was young, my parents had such a hard time making me drink soup, with a couple of exceptions. And one of those exceptions is Japanese Miso Soup! It continued being one of my favourites over the years and prompted me to make this Miso Noodle Soup.
I’ve always enjoyed the savoury umami flavours of a miso soup, which I find fitting to pair with noodles. There are lots of miso soup sachets readily available at supermarkets, but I never liked them very much. They are decent for convenience and certainly quick enough to whip up. However, I find those flavours were rather lacklustre and lacked the richness to embody the noodles. That’s why I have been keen to learn how to make one on my own.
For some reasons, I thought Miso soup is something quite complicated to make. But turns out it’s so easy! You actually just needed to get the right ingredients and the rest is easy to make. To make things even easier, I manage to get my hands on some pre-made Dashi broth from Waitrose so it was literally just about putting everything together in one pot and let the magic happen!
Dashi broth
Dashi broth is a savoury cooking stock made with water, kombu (dried kelp), and bonito fish flakes. It is a key ingredient in making Miso soup.
The Dashi broth is easy enough to make on your own by bringing all the ingredients to a boil. But as mentioned, I got some pre-made ones from Waitrose, which made things extra handy.
Red Miso
I used red miso in this recipe as it carries a deeper umami flavour. It’s got a stronger savoury touch in contrary to the sweet white miso, which I find more fitting with the noodles.
White Miso is made with soy beans fermented with rice, whereas Red Miso is soy beans fermented with barley or other grains, and fermented with either higher percentage of soy beans or fermented for a longer period of time.
Toppings
I kept things really simple and only garnished the miso noodle soup with some chopped scallions. But it’d definitely go well with some tofu and perhaps mushrooms.
Miso Noodles Soup
Ingredients
- 300 g Dashi Broth
- 2 tbsp Red Miso Paste
- 1 bundle Ramen Noodles
- Scallions chopped, for garnish
- Tofu optional
Instructions
- Boil the Dashi broth in a pot and stir in the Miso paste until dissolved.
- Add in noodles and allow to cook.
- Stir in tofu (if using), and chopped scallions. Allow to cook for another minute or so. Serve immediately.