Miso Soup (Japan)

Ingredients

Fish stock (dashi)
4½ cups cold water
10cm piece of dried kelp (konbu)
1cup fish flakes (katsuobushi)

Soup
3-4 tablespoons of miso paste (light or dark)
250g tofu (silken) chopped into 1½ cm cubes
2 spring onions

Method

To make fish stock

Pat dried kelp with a damp cloth to allow the flavour of the kelp to come through. Do not remove the white powdery substance.

Place kelp in a saucepan and add water (4½ cups). Leaving uncovered, bring to the boil. As soon as water boils remove kelp and discard. Add ~ ¼ cup cold water to stop water from boiling. Add fish flakes and bring to the boil again, then remove from heat.

When fish flakes have settled on the bottom of the saucepan strain liquid through fine sieve to remove fish flakes. Discard fish flakes

To make soup
Stir 3-4 tablespoons of miso paste into fish stock (dashi) until smoooth, then bring to the boil.

To serve
Add 5 to 6 chopped cubes of silken tofu to small bowl pour in a cup of soup and garnish with finely chopped spring onion.

Tips
Do not cover stock with lid as this affects the clarity and flavour of the stock.
Do not boil stock longer than indicated, as flavour diminishes with boiling.

Health Benefits
Miso - fermented soybean paste.

Soybeans contain a number of different nutrients and other biologically active chemicals. These properties may play an important role in protecting against certain diseases like heart disease and cancer.

Fermented foods have the potential to keep our bowel healthy since the bacteria in these foods can stop the growth of other harmful bacteria and in some cases may be health promoting in their own right.

In a study of more than 140,000 Japanese women who were followed for 17 years, it was found that as the intake of miso soup increased the subsequent risk of breast cancer decreased. This observation doesn't prove that eating miso soup will prevent you from getting breast cancer but there may be a link.