Japanese Miso Paste

Miso paste is a traditional Japanese food made by fermenting soybeans with a mould called koji and sea salt. The most common types of miso are red, white, barley and soybean. Miso was introduced to Japan by Buddhist monks in the 7th century, and has several well-known health benefits.

Red miso is a mixture of white rice, barley or soybeans fermented for one to three years. It contains the highest levels of protein. White or yellow miso contains a higher percentage of rice koji and less soybeans, is sweeter than red miso and contains a higher percentage of carbohydrates and a lower percentage of protein. It is only fermented for a few weeks and has a shorter shelf life than other varieties, usually up to two months refrigerated. Soybean miso is a reddish-brown, chunky miso, made only from soybeans with a fermentation period of at least a year.

Miso has many health benefits and a lot of these can be contributed to the koji mould. It is a probiotic, which is good for digestive relief and contains many B vitamins, including B12.

How Can I Use Miso Paste? 


• Add a teaspoon of miso paste to hot water for a nutritious alternative to tea or coffee
• Apply a thin scraping of miso under tahini on some wholemeal toast for a healthy breakfast or snack
• Miso Soup (see recipe below)

Basic Miso Soup Recipe

Serves 6

Prep & Cooking: 15 mins

Ingredients 
• 4 cups (1 litre) dashi stock
• 20g dried seaweed
• 150g silken tofu, cut into 2cm cubes
• ¼ cup (75g) red miso paste
• 3 green onions, thinly sliced

Method 
1. Place dashi in a large saucepan and bring to the boil.
2. Reduce heat to low and add seaweed.
3. Cook for a minute then add tofu and cook until heated through
4. Place miso in a bowl.
5. Add a little dashi, stirring until miso dissolves.
6. Add miso to the saucepan and stir to combine.
7. Bring back to the simmer.
8. Ladle into bowls and sprinkle over green onions.

Note: Other great ingredients to add to miso soup include shitake mushrooms, carrots, daikon and udon noodles.

Miso Soup

Tamagoyaki Recipe (Japanese style Omelette)

This Month’s Easy to Cook Japanese Recipe is Tamagoyaki, which is a Japanese style sweet omelette. In Japan, it is usually served as a side dish to breakfast, but it is a great side dish for any meal.

Tamagoyaki Recipe


Serves 2

Ingredients

• 4 eggs
• 2 tbsp dashi
• 1 tbsp caster sugar
• 1 tbsp mirin
• 1 tsp light colour soy sauce
• 1 tbsp vegetable oil
• 1 tbsp grated daikon
• soy sauce

Method 

1. Crack the eggs into a bowl and add dashi, caster sugar, mirin and soy sauce then whisk.
2. Strain into another bowl.
3. Heat up a non-stick frying pan over a medium heat for 1 minute. Pour in a little oil and swirl evenly over the pan.
4. Pour in one third of the egg mixture and cook until set around the edges.
5. With a spatula fold one third towards the front of the pan, then fold over again in the same direction onto the remaining portion.
6. Add a little more oil to the pan and pour half the remaining egg mixture onto the empty area of the pan and cook until the edge sets.
7. Again fold one third towards the folded egg, then fold this over the top of previous roll, making a flat roll on one side of the pan.
8. Add more oil and pour in the remaining egg mixture, and repeat the folding process. With the spatula, give a little push to mould the shape.
9. When cooked remove from the heat. And place on a bamboo mat. Wrap the omelette with the bamboo mat and shape. By pressing with your fingers on one side only along the length of the roll, you can make a wedge shape which produces attractive “petals” when cut across the roll. It can also be squared off for a simple version.
10. Cut into pieces and serve with grated daikon and soy sauce.

Note: Tamagoyaki is also a popular sushi topping and is a great addition to any bento lunch box.

Tonjiru Pork Soup Recipe

This Month’s Easy to Cook Japanese Recipe is Tonjiru, which is a Japanese soup made with pork and vegetables, flavoured with miso.

This is one of my favourite Japanese soups along with Miso Soup. It contains mainly root vegetables and is a real comfort food.



Serves 4

Ingredients

• 200g pork fillets, thinly sliced
• 1/3 carrot, peeled and sliced
• 100g fresh or frozen gobo (burdock)
• 100g pumpkin, cut into wedges
• 100g daikon, peeled and sliced
• 4 cups dashi
• 3 shiitake mushrooms
• 1 clove garlic, crushed
• vegetable oil
• 2 tbsp light brown miso, mixed with 2 tbsp sake
• 1 small amount fresh ginger, finely sliced
• 1 spring onion stem
• shichimi (Japanese seven-spice)

Method

1. Prepare the pork, vegetables and garlic.
2. Heat a little vegetable oil in a saucepan, add pork and stir for a minute.
3. Add carrot, burdock, pumpkin, daikon, shiitake, dashi, and garlic while stirring.
4. Simmer for 30 minutes over a low heat.
5. Add miso and ginger and cook for another minute.
6. Serve in individual bowls, topped with spring onion. Sprinkle shichimi over the soup.

Note:
• Other ingredients are also great in this soup like sweet potato, potato and konnyaku (Japanese yam potato)