Miso soup is a great way to prevent food waste plus add the benefits of fermented foods to your diet. Learn how to make your own miso soup at home.
Do you ever buy an ingredient for a recipe, use a little bit, and then you forget about the rest?
This can happen really easily, especially if you are branching out and trying new recipes (yay for being adventurous!)
I typically don't have this problem because I can't stand the idea of wasting. There's nothing like a good batch of fried rice (or quinoa) or a frittata full of all the food in your fridge that's almost past its prime.
Preventing food waste is a great way to stretch your food budget. If you're wasting food, you're wasting money no matter what your budget is. Plus, it's not a nice thing to do to Mother Earth.
Luckily, I've got a recipe today that not only uses miso paste that you might have in your fridge leftover from another recipe (I'd recommend this addicting miso dressing), but it also saves you money since you won't need to order take-out miso soup.
For the soup, you start out by making the broth or dashi which is made by boiling water with kombu.
What is kombu?
It's an edible sea vegetable. You can find it dried, and it's great for adding to soups and when making beans to help improve the digestibility of the meal. A bag of kombu will last a while in your pantry, so you don't have to worry about wasting it.
I really like the flavor of kombu broth as it helps your miso soup taste more authentic.
However, if making the broth is not in the cards for you today, you can substitute vegetable or chicken broth.
Miso Soup Tips
Once you've made the broth, add in sliced mushrooms and tofu and simmer for a few minutes. Then you'll take out a little of the broth and stir miso paste into the reserved broth.
You don't want to stir the miso directly into the soup for a few reasons. One, it is harder to prevent lumps when adding it to the whole pot of soup. Two, adding miso paste to a boiling pot of soup will kill the health benefits that the miso provides.
All these words -- miso, kombu, dashi -- might sound intimidating, but they're not! I promise. Once you've opened up your kitchen to the items, you'll understand why you'll never want to waste any of these things again.
Miso Soup
Ingredients
- 4 cups water
- 1 piece kombu
- 8 ounces mushrooms sliced
- 14 ounce firm tofu cubed
- 5 tablespoon miso paste
- 2 green onions chopped
Instructions
- Add the water and kombu to a pot. Bring to a boil.
- Stir in sliced mushrooms and tofu. Reduce heat and simmer for 15 minutes.
- Turn off heat. Remove the kombu & discard.
- Transfer 1 cup of the soup to a small bowl. Stir in miso paste until dissolved. Add to soup.
- Stir in green onions, and enjoy!
Notes
Meme
Nutrition Facts
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