Dish of the Day: Miso-based Soups

Brrrr!!!! It is unseasonably frigid here and that calls for warm hearty soups. Lazy chefs celebrate miso paste for its ease of use and delicious flavour. Miso is a Japanese fermented food and is usually made by fermenting rice and soybeans. It's important to not destroy the natural enzymes and bacteria by boiling the miso paste and this is why a tablespoon of the paste must be added to a large serving bowl of whatever broth you choose. You don't put miso in a pot and boil it or you will kill off the beneficial bacteria that are a part of the fermentation process.

Miso soup base is a great foundation for a quick and healthy soup that can include tofu, egg or fish, noodles or rice and a large variety of vegetables. You can put whatever is in your fridge into your miso soup.

The miso paste I'm using currently is brown rice and soybeans. I added 1 large Tbsp to a bowl of the water in which I boiled my kale. This was before I discovered there was a worm in the water as well, so I had extra protein in my soup :0(
I then added a soft-boiled egg, some soft tofu, a large pile of chopped, boiled kale and some spicy bamboo shoots.
Some other good miso soup combos are:
- salmon and kale/bok choy with a teaspoon each of soy sauce and maple syrup
- ramen noodles, chicken and broccoli
- tofu, baby corn, green onions
- egg, bean sprouts and sliced, boiled cabbage

For added flavour you can also add gomasio and soya or tamari sauce. However, almost all miso pastes are quite salty so watch it when adding any additional salty items.