As I continue to empty out my refrigerator, I came upon a few ingredients I had selected with one of my miso soup concoctions in mind. Miso soup, as traditionally made, is a very simple and light soup predominately comprised of broth, with some added tofu, seaweed, maybe a mushroom or two, and a garnish of green onion.
For me, that's a starting point for something which starts to resemble an Asian cioppino. I will start with the conventional miso soup base, but then dash off furiously in the direction of the fishmonger's, adding assorted vegetables along the way. These soups are never quite the same each time, depending as they do on what's at hand. The only constant, other than the foundational ingredients, is that the women in my life love them.
That being the case, I think the recipe may be worth writing down.
There may be some physiological reason for this appeal. I once read of how a group of certain foods comprise a flavor category distinct from the established "sweet," "sour," and such. If I recall correctly, there is a section of the tongue, towards the back which is sensitive to this other category and that, moreover, this taste elicits a very positive response in the brain.
Not as an aphrodisiac. For that recipe, you have to rely more upon the cook and their guest.
Among the foods associated with this group are seaweed, miso paste, and mushrooms. This recipe typically includes all three, which may account for its persistently favorable reception. Today's version didn't include any mushrooms, but luckily (or unhappily) there was no lady to please with my efforts.
The Ingredients
- Boiled baby clam meat (Vietnamese thit nghui)
- Fresh locally made tofu, preferably soft - a benefit of living here, lots of locally made tofu
- Fresh bamboo sprouts (stalk segments, about the thickness of a leak)
- Medium-small tiger prawns
- Wakame, a dried Japanese seaweed
- Hon-dashi, a granular fish compound using bonito (tuna) for making stock
- Miso, normally I use a white, shiro miso, but in this case, I used a darker Korean variety
- Green onions
(Normally, I would have added enoki mushrooms at the last minute along with either
oyster mushrooms or small shitakes introduced earlier, but I was out of them.)
In past variations on this recipe, I have used any number of the following ingredients:
- Salmon
- Ling cod
- True cod
- Sea bass
- Dungeness crab
- Blue crab
- Oysters
- Calamari
The soup is simplicity itself, another aspect of its appeal. The trick is to introduce the ingredients in their proper time, with an eye to how quickly they cook in comparison with the other ones. The other consideration is to prepare it just before serving. Overcooking this, as with any seafood dish, is a fragile possibility, and unlike most soups, this one worsens with age. If you must store some of it, immediately remove it from the stove and refrigerate without delay. The heat should dissipate rapidly so as to prevent further cooking.
The steps to making it are as follows:
- Bring a measure of water to a boil
- Add the appropriate amount of Hon-dashi, stirring it in thoroughly until dissolved
- Spoon in the miso incrementally, stirring each portion in before adding the next
- Allow this to return to a boil for a few minutes
- Add the wakame, taking care not to add too much. It's dried, so before it expands in water it can appear deceptively small
- Add the bamboo shoots, cut into rings of perhaps a third to a half of an inch thick
- Wait a few minutes as these cook
- Add the boiled clams
- Wait a few more minutes
- Add the tiger prawns, shelled, beheaded, and deveined
- Wait until the prawns blush into a rosy hue, but are not fully cooked
- Add the tofu, diced into cubes roughly half an inch big
- Wait a few minutes again, until the prawns are done
- Serve in small bowls (keeps the contents hot until you're done)
- Garnish with fine rings of green onion
Again, this is just one instance of a general type. So long as you keep everything fresh, and cooked just to the point of being done, but no further, while maintaining harmony among the flavors, it should work out nicely.
Just ask your guest. ;)
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