Korean Style Spicy Miso Soup
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If you are a regular customer at Japan Centre Online, you may have noticed that we love to promote miso soup as being healthy and full of friendly nutrients for your body. Well, we are not the only ones to understand the benefits of miso soup as you can now find this Japanese food staple in all types of cafes and sandwich shops across the UK, even ones that don’t sell any other Japanese food!

As the name suggests, miso soup is made with miso, a paste made from fermented soybeans, and introduced to Japan by monks in the 7th century. During the samurai era, miso soup was commonly eaten at breakfast, maybe it gave those samurai warriors the edge for victory? :)

Even though miso soup represents Japanese food, you can also find it in other Asian countries such as Korea. Japan’s neighbour loves to add chilli and other spices to their food and this also goes for their version of miso soup. The use of spices and chilli can give a richer taste and aroma to the traditional miso soup. If you like miso soup, but interested in making something slightly different, try this recipe to spice things up!

2 people 10 minutes 10 minutes save

Ingredients

• Dashi Stock – 1 Teaspoon
• Miso Paste – 2 Tablespoons
• Korean Chili Miso Paste Gochujang – Between 1 and 2 Teaspoons

• Tofu – Half a Packet
• Sesame Oil – 1 Teaspoon (optional)
• Seven Spice Shichimi Togarashi – 1 Teaspoon (optional)

• Vegetables: Potato, Carrot, Onion
• Ginger (optional)

How to prepare

Let’s first cut the tofu and vegetables. If preparing miso soup for two people, half a carrot, a small potato and half an onion cut into slices should be enough. For the tofu, cut into small cubes.
You can now prepare the dashi soup stock by mixing 500ml of water and the dashi in a saucepan and allow it to boil. Add the vegetables to the dashi and leave them to cook on a moderate heat.
Meanwhile, stir your teaspoons of miso paste in a small amount of water until it is well dissolved. Add the cubes of tofu, the dissolved miso and finally the gochujang Korean chilli paste to the dashi and vegetables and mix well. Be very careful that the soup doesn’t boil! Keep on moderate heat and remove the saucepan a few minutes before boiling.

You can now add the sesame oil and the shichimi togarashi if you wish to add a fantastic aroma. Enjoy it with a cold Japanese beer or a glass of Japanese tea if you need to refresh your mouth from the hot chilli.