Some of my fondest food memories began with a move across the country, a Japanese restaurant, and a little bowl of soup.
It was the early 1970s, and my family had just relocated from New Jersey to California. I was in my early teens, and Dad’s company arranged for us to stay at the Mikado while we waited to move into our new home.
Now, moving across the country at that age could have been quite an ordeal. But as far as my brother Dave and I were concerned, we’d landed in paradise!
Built around 1960, the Mikado Hotel was a wonderful example of Southern California’s mid-century motor hotels, complete with Japanese-inspired gardens, koi ponds, and a beautiful red footbridge. Its extraordinary Japanese restaurant had been welcoming diners since the early 1960s. And amazingly, the hotel is still there today!
A little piece of Japan in Burbank
The restaurant was unlike anything I’d ever experienced. There were beautiful Japanese gardens, koi ponds, little streams and a footbridge. Even inside the restaurant, koi swam in the water. Everything seemed designed to transport you to another world.
The hostesses and waitresses wore lovely kimonos, and I remember their soft-spoken voices, gracious bows, and gentle manner. There was something wonderfully comforting about it all. In the middle of this enormous change in our lives, their hospitality seemed to reassure me that everything was going to be just fine.
And then there was the FOOD! We ate at the Mikado restaurant every single night during our stay. Imagine that! For the first time, we discovered sushi, shrimp tempura (my choice every night) , yakitori, pork katsu, beautifully prepared Japanese rice, and little chewy rice candies and mandarin orange segments for dessert. The rice paper the candies were wrapped in you could also eat!!!
It was sensory overload in the most delicious way possible. I was hooked! And somewhere among all those exciting new discoveries was a humble little bowl of soup that would stay with me for the rest of my life.
The Little Bowl That Started It All
Miso soup. Served piping hot in those wonderful little black and red Japanese bowls, it was unlike any soup I’d ever tasted. Savory, delicate, comforting, with a wonderful creamy quality despite being such a light broth.
I can still picture the way the miso would slowly separate if the soup sat for a few minutes, forming soft, drifting clouds beneath the surface. Floating among those clouds were just a few special little treasures. Tiny cubes of tofu, sliced green onions, and occasionally bits of crabmeat. Nothing fancy. Nothing complicated. Just delicious.
Our kimono-clad server taught us that it was perfectly proper to lift the bowl and drink the broth directly from it, using chopsticks to retrieve the little morsels inside.
CHOPSTICKS! Another first for our family! I suspect we provided a fair amount of entertainment during those first few meals, but by the end of the week, we’d pretty much mastered them. And with our new found skills, we had discovered a whole new world of flavors.
MISO HAPPY… All These Years Later!
Fast-forward to our kitchen today, and that little bowl of soup is still one of my favorite things. In fact, I eat miso soup almost daily, often for breakfast or lunch.
There’s something wonderfully satisfying about a steaming bowl of savory goodness that takes only minutes to prepare. And the beauty of miso soup is its simplicity.
At its heart, you need just two things: dashi, the flavorful Japanese soup stock, and miso, the fermented soybean paste that gives the soup its unmistakable character.
From there, a little tofu, wakame seaweed, and sliced green onions make a lovely traditional-style bowl. Or you can wander off in all sorts of delicious directions!
A few mushrooms, baby spinach, bok choy, leftover vegetables, pieces of imitation crab, or even a precooked Japanese dumpling can turn that humble soup into a light little meal. The possibilities are endless, and it’s a wonderful way to use up those little bits and pieces lurking in the refrigerator.
MISO HAPPY SOUP
Ingredients
- 2 cups water
- Instant Hondashi dashi granules approximately ? teaspoon, or according to package directions for 2 cups of stock
- 1½ –2 tablespoons white shiro miso paste, or to taste
- ¼ cup silken tofu or your favorite tofu, cut into small cubes
- 1 teaspoon dried wakame seaweed
- 1 green onion scallion, thinly sliced
Instructions
LET'S MAKE SOUP!
Wake Up the Seaweed!
- Place the dried wakame in a small bowl of cool water and let soak for about 5 minutes, until softened. Drain and set aside. A little goes a long way, as wakame expands considerably!
Make the Dashi Stock
- Bring 2 cups of water to a boil in a small saucepan. Stir in the Hondashi granules until dissolved, then reduce the heat to a gentle simmer.
Warm the Goodies
- Add the tofu cubes and softened wakame to the hot dashi. Simmer gently for 1–2 minutes, just until the tofu is heated through. Avoid vigorous boiling, especially when using delicate silken tofu.
Make It MISO HAPPY!
- Turn off the heat.
- Spoon a little hot broth into a separate cup or small bowl. Add the miso paste and whisk until completely smooth and creamy.
- Stir the dissolved miso back into the saucepan. The broth should remain pleasantly hot without needing to boil again.
Serve and Savor!
- Divide the soup between two small Japanese soup bowls and garnish with freshly sliced green onions.
- Serve immediately while wonderfully warm!
MAKE IT YOUR OWN!
One of the loveliest things about miso soup is how easily you can change it up with fresh ingredients or little treasures from the refrigerator.
- Try adding:
- Mushrooms: Thinly sliced shiitake, enoki, or button mushrooms.
- Fresh Greens: Baby spinach, bok choy, or finely shredded cabbage.
- Imitation Crab Sticks: Cut into ¾-inch pieces and warm gently in the broth.
- Japanese Dumplings: Add a fully cooked, heated gyoza or other Japanese dumpling just before serving.
- Leftover Vegetables: Small pieces of cooked vegetables make wonderful additions.
- Extra Seaweed: A little additional wakame for those who love its delicate ocean flavor.
- Add ingredients that need cooking to the simmering dashi before stirring in the miso.
Notes
A FEW LITTLE SOUP SECRETS
Keep It Hot, Not Boiling!
Miso is a fermented soybean paste with a wonderfully delicate aroma and complex flavor. Boiling the soup after adding miso can diminish those qualities.
The trick is to heat your tofu, seaweed, and other ingredients in the dashi first, then stir in the miso with the heat turned off.
White or Red Miso?
White (shiro) miso is generally milder, slightly sweeter, and a lovely choice for a delicate soup. Red (aka) miso has a deeper, more robust flavor. Both are delicious, so experiment to discover your favorite!
Taste Before Adding Salt!
Both miso paste and instant dashi granules contain salt. Start with a little less miso, taste, and adjust until the flavor is just right.
What About Homemade Dashi?
Traditional Japanese dashi can be prepared using kombu (kelp) and bonito flakes. It’s a wonderful foundation for miso soup and many other Japanese dishes.
I’ll be sharing a simple homemade dashi recipe in a future DOG IN THE KITCHEN™ post!
And Yes… Drink Your Soup!
In Japan, it’s perfectly traditional to lift your little soup bowl and sip the broth directly from it. Use your chopsticks to retrieve the tofu, seaweed, and other delicious little morsels.
No spoon required!
MISO HAPPY! ???
SHOPPING LIST
Find these ingredients easily at the links below on Amazon or in your local Asian specialty grocery.
- HONDASHI GRANULES for the base of the stock —-
- SILKEN TOFU most grocery stores will carry tofu —-
- WAKAME SEAWEED —-
- WHITE SHIRO MISO PASTE many to choose from. This one is lower sodium which I prefer —–
- THE CUTE LITTLE RED AND BLACK 10 OZ BOWLS
