cooking with miso (soy free or real)

I ordered a big tub of chickpea miso this week with the hopes of ordering a bigger tub if I like the flavour.  So-free miso is gentle on my tummy so I'm keen to eat more miso-based meals.

To that end, I'm gathering up some recipes that I want to try.  

Maybe other people like miso soup but want to try different recipes?  So here we are, a thread with recipe ideas and maybe some notes on how it all goes.

---

Raven's everyday miso soup.

First, make the dashi

Dashi
- a 1 to 2" square of kombu (kelp - be sure to get the stuff with the white powder on it, that's where the flavour is)
- (optional) dry fish like tuna flakes or my current favourite, dried mackerel (remove the heads)
- (vegan option which I never do because yuck, mushrooms) dry Shiitake

1. Soak ingredients (an hour is good, overnight better)
2. bring to simmer
3. cool a bit

Miso soup
- dashi
- miso paste
- green onions (dry or fresh - if fresh add at serving)
- a potato
- a sweet potato

1. if cooking in pottery or stone pot, rub pot with sesame first.
2. chop up the potato and sweet potato and add to pot.  If using dry green onions, add now.
3. add a small teaspoon of miso paste to the pot
4. strain the dashi into the pot
5. cook on low to bring to light boil until cooked (I like to cook really slow for about an hour).  remove from heat
6. add more miso to taste and if using fresh green onions, add them now.
7. enjoy

some recipes I want to try soon

miso soup primer https://justhungry.com/handbook/just-hungry-reference-handbooks/japanese-miso-primer
miso nut paste for veg.  https://justbento.com/handbook/johbisai/bento-filler-staple-walnut-miso-paste-blanched-vegetables
sweet and spicy miso potatoes https://justhungry.com/new-potatoes-with-sweet-spicy-miso
more soup ideas https://justhungry.com/handbook/cooking-courses/japanese-cooking-101-lesson-1a-making-miso-soup-clear-soup
instant miso balls for miso-on-the-go https://justbento.com/handbook/johbisai/make-your-own-instant-miso-soup-ball

I only recently learned to cook with miso- aside from making soup, that is- and I LOVE it. It's the perfect umami blast for all sorts of foods, especially roasted veggies.

To be honest, I've tried adding it to all sorts of things. Canned tomato soup? Whisk a big spoonful of miso with some boiling water and add it in; instant protein, instant depth of flavor. Or try using it instead of anchovy paste to boost flavor in Italian sauces. It really works with so many cuisines and foods, not just Asian.

Here's a recipe we had last week for roasted broccoli and tofu with creamy miso dressing: https://www.bonappetit.com/recipe/roasted-broccoli-and-tofu-with-creamy-miso-dressing. Amazeballs!

Edited to add: The trick to using it is to whisk it with enough boiling water to make a looser, easily dissolvable paste. I usually just spoon a big spoonful into a big Pyrex mixing cup and add a few tablespoons of hot water, just enough to make it mixable by whisk. Then I either add it to my dish, or add things to the miso paste to make a glaze. Roasted root veggies are incredible with this mixing-cup miso paste, into which you whisk a fair amount of maple syrup, thyme, garlic, or whatever you have on hand that sounds good. :-) Red miso is my favorite because it's so bold, but it's all delicious.

r ranson wrote:Maybe other people like miso soup but want to try different recipes?  So here we are, a thread with recipe ideas and maybe some notes on how it all goes.

I recently made a nightshade-free Bolognese (meat) pasta sauce for a friend. I used pumpkin puree as the base, and I added miso paste (I used red miso but white miso would work too) and kombucha. I was trying to mimic the unique profile of the tomato-- sweet, savory, and acidic. I think I came pretty darn close (besides the color, which is more orange than red)!

I try to use it in place of salt in cooking because the sodium in miso doesn't seem to contribute to hypertension the way salt alone does.
https://nutritionfacts.org/2020/04/14/what-about-the-sodium-in-miso/

Japanese researchers decided to put it to the test.

For four years, they followed men and women in their 60s, who, at the start of the study, had normal blood pressure, to see who was more likely to be diagnosed with hypertension in that time: those who had two or more bowls of miso soup a day or those who had one or less. Two bowls a day may add a half teaspoon of salt to one’s daily diet, yet those who had two or more bowls of miso soup every day appeared to have five times lower risk of becoming hypertensive. So, maybe the anti-hypertensive effects of the soy in the miso exceed the hypertensive effects of the salt.

I love mixing the white/yellow kind 50/50 with tahini or peanut butter for a high protein veggie dip or drizzle on roasted sweet potatoes. also glaze salmon with it.