Main meal miso soup
I have always enjoyed delicate miso broth served with traditional Japanese restaurant meals. The delicate stock is made from just a few ingredients, but bonito flakes and kombu are essential for the stock. I had neither in my pantry so I grabbed the opportunity to test the cabbage dashi recipe from Adam Liaw’s “Big Pot.” His stock recipe was quick and simple, the flavour astonishingly good. The cabbage used to make stock wasn’t wasted either, it became a meltingly delicious accompaniment to simple Hainanese Chicken Rice.
Miso is a traditional fermented Japanese ingredient made from rice, soybeans and/or barley in varying proportions. Dark miso asserts a rich umami flavour while the pale coloured variety is more subtle. In the midst of a love affair with miso, I’d have confessed a preference for dark paste used to dress roasted vegetables but now it’s plain to see that both types of miso have a place in my kitchen. So does cabbage dashi!
cabbage dashi: from Adam Liaw’s “Big Pot”
1/2 Chinese cabbage
1 litre water
1/4 cup fish sauce
2 tablespoons saki
Wash and roughly chop the cabbage. Bring the cabbage and water to the boil in a large saucepan. Reduce the heat and simmer until the cabbage has collapsed. Add the fish sauce and saki, simmer for a further 20 minutes. Strain the dashi through a fine seive.
The stock will keep in the refrigerator for a few days, or freeze for a longer life.
Makes 1.5 litres
main meal miso soup:
750 mls cabbage dashi
2 heaped tablespoons white miso
1 large head of bok choy, washed and thickly sliced
180g firm tofu, cut into 1.5 cm cubes
100g dry rice noodles
Furikake to garnish
Cook the rice noodles in rapidly boiling salted water until soft. Drain, then divide them between two serving bowls.
Whisk the miso into the stock. Add the tofu and bok choy.
Gently heat the soup but don’t allow it to boil.
Ladle stock and vegetables over the noodles.
Serve immediately sprinkled with furikake.
Make 2 large bowls of delicious soup.
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19 comments on “Main meal miso soup”
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Please Pass the Recipe by Sandra Gay is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 3.0 Unported License.
Please Pass the Recipe 
This miso soup sounds light, delicious and health. 🙂
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Definitely a keeper!
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This sounds simple, light and delicious. What a wonderful idea – Cabbage dashi! Do you follow Adam Liaw on Instagram? His food always looks so good.
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I do now, thanks
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I love miso. And tofu. And miso soup with tofu. Cabbage dashi? What a great idea!
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I liked the cabbage dashi a lot, dare I say more than the traditional recipe! Enjoy…
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love miso! Can’t imagine my life without it, even though I only began eating it a few years ago. This is a great recipe!
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Well in our house thankfully, tofu is one of the few things we all love, so bring it on! Love the idea of the cabbage dashi too 🙂
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I didn’t realize tofu was so divisive! The cabbage dashi is a beauty, enjoy…
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With your recommendations, I think it’s high time I re-visited Miso Soup… it really does look fresh and healthful, which is just what I need coming out of winter! I’m with Debi though… like the idea of tofu substitutes. 😉
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The broth is the feature of this soup, what you add is entirely up to your taste. I don’t seem to be able to get enough Asian greens..
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Great recipe Sandra. We have miso quite often and the cabbage dashi intrigues me. I’ll give it go. Have you tried chickpea miso? It’s a nice soy/wheat free alternative.
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Nice to hear from you Seana. I haven’t seen chick pea miso, something to look out for!
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This looks so light and beautiful. Laughing at Debi, she has been bombarded by tofu this week! The delicious curd of Beans. (Or not, depending on your point of view…..) 😂
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Poor Debi….I’m a tofu fan, but only in Asian food, and especially in soups like this😀
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😃
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I’m not a particular fan of tofu, but I do love miso, especially the dark variety. I really should give its lighter cousin a try. This soup looks lovely, fresh, and quick to do – a perfect lunch (minus the tofu, perhaps 😉).
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The soup was terrific, the pale miso is delicious in soup, it’s makes a lovely light broth. Tofu is not mandatory, some poached chicken or pork meatballs would be good instead
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Like the idea of tofu substitutes!
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