Miso Tofu

An easy and unique baked tofu flavored with miso, sesame oil, and soy sauce.

Miso Butter Shrimp

It's that time again - SRC time! As part of the Secret Recipe Club, we're assigned another blogger each month, and we get to pick a recipe from their blog to make. This month, I got Well Dined, and Sarah's definitely got a plethora of recipes to choose from! After browsing through many, many scrumptious recipes, I found one i just had to make - miso butter. I'm a fan of miso, but it's been pushed to the back of the fridge over time, and this recipe's definitely a great reason to pull it out again. Plus, like compound butter, it's so versatile and can be adapted to many uses - ranging from a spread on toast to cooking seafood in, and everything in between. For this recipe, I used only shiro, or white, miso, and we really enjoyed it. However, I'm thinking it'd taste even yummier with a bit of red, or aka miso mixed in. Maybe even gochujang! I also whipped the butter instead of just mixing it in since I also wanted to use it as a spread. We're also fans of whipped butter, especially as a spread, and it's less calorically dense and has a lighter texture. :)

What's your favorite type of miso?

Miso Butter Shrimp

by CJ Huang

Shrimp, cooked in a white miso sauce, whipped with butter for one scrumptious (and simple) miso butter shrimp. The miso butter's also perfect as a spread or for cooking just about anything, ranging from veggies to seafood and anything in between!

Prep time: What's your favorite type of miso?
Cook time: 5 minutes
Total time: 15 minutes
Yield: 2 servings

Materials:

Mass	Weight	Volume	Number	Material	Notes
250 grams	8.75 ounces			shrimp
113 grams	4 ounces	1/2 cup	1 stick	butter
156 grams	5.5 ounces	1/2 cup		white miso	You could also use a mixture of different types of miso. I also want to try with gochujang. :)

Methods:

	1. Gather all materials.
	2. Whip together miso and butter. (Or simply mix together.)
	3. Heat approximately 1.5 tablespoons of the miso butter in a pan. (Keep in mind, the butter will melt, but the miso won't, so it'll still look a bit foamy or bubbly when it's heated enough.)
	4. Add in shrimp, and cook for about 5 minutes, or until shrimp are done.

Jicama Persimmon Miso Salad

We'd recently bought a jicama since they were on sale, and I thought back to Jicama Slaw, thinking I might make it again. Then I saw the ripening persimmons my parents gave us. I also remembered we had some lettuce since we originally planned on packing sandwiches when we hiked Raven Rock. Except we decided to make Fan Tuan instead, so I thought about combining our odds and ends into some sort of salad.

At first, I wasn't so sure of the flavor combo - jicama and persimmons? One slightly sweet and crunchy, and the other sweet and firm? Maybe a savory and tangy dressing could tie it all together. So I went with miso and lime. Another odd couple, but along with the avocado, it really worked to pull everything together. Next time, I'm thinking I'll also add a bit of red onion. :)

What's an odd sounding flavor combo you like?

Jicama Persimmon Miso Salad

by CJ Huang

Toss some jicama and persimmons into your lettuce salad. Top it off with a citrusy miso dressing for one flavorful and texturally diverse Jicama Persimmon Miso Salad!

Prep time: 15 minutes
Cook time: none
Total time: 15 minutes
Yield: 4 servings

Materials:

Mass	Weight	Volume	Number	Material	Notes
454 grams	1 pound		3	persimmons, cut into eighths or sixteenths
210 grams	7.875 ounces		1/3	jicama, cut into 1/4 x 1/4 x 1 inch pieces
172 grams	6.125 ounces		1	avocado, cubed	Find out how to cut an avocado here.
		1 tablespoon		lime juice
		1.5 tablespoons		white miso
		1/2 cup		olive oil
			1 head	romaine lettuce, cut

Methods:

	1. Gather all materials.
	2. Beat together lime juice, miso, and olive oil. Add in water to thin if desired.
	3. Toss together remaining materials, and add dressing just before serving.

Miso Salmon with Bok Choy and Mushrooms

Miso covered salmon atop a bed of stir fried bok choy and mushrooms.

Korean Chili Pepper Paste (Gochujang 고추장)

Try this savory Korean chili pepper paste (gochujang 고추장) made from red chili powder, miso, and sweetened with sugar.

Zucchini Onion Miso Soup

This soup is pretty light, but flavorful. Throw in some summer squash, and you've got a perfectly tasty soup that's pretty quick and easy. I used white (shiro) miso since it has a lighter flavor, but you could switch that out with red (aka) miso for a stronger flavor or use a mix of the two for something in between. :) I'll just go to the recipe now since I'm still trying to get things back on track after 3 weeks in Southeast Asia (pictures coming soon)!

Zucchini Onion Miso Soup

by CJ Huang

A light, yet flavorful miso soup with zucchini and onions.

Materials:

Mass	Weight	Volume	Number	Material	Notes
				water/stock
			1	zucchini, sliced
			1	onion, sliced
				miso
				green onion, chopped

Methods:

1. Boil water/stock, zucchini, and onion.
2. Simmer until zucchini and onion cooked.
3. Dissolve miso in a small amount of water/stock so that the beneficial bacteria are not killed off.
4. Mix the miso solution back with the rest of the soup.
5. Garnish with green onions.

Bean Sprout Soup

We recently bought some bean sprouts as a topping for pad thai, but we later realized we got too much and now needed to find another use quickly since bean sprouts tend to not keep for long. Throw in all the cold and rainy weather lately, and I started thinking about soups. Not too many foods can warm you up as quickly or easily as a soup. Although I did an overnight soak due to the kind of seaweed I used, you could shorten that part by simply boiling the seaweed or using something else. However, I would recommend using the same kind or something similar because it does add a certain flavor to the soup. This type of seaweed is commonly found at Asian groceries in bins or containers of brine or frozen. I personally prefer the packaged frozen kind, but there's nothing wrong with the other variety. I also added in some white miso for additional flavor and its health benefits. I figured it might be a good idea with the bug going around lately. Anyway, give this soup a try and let me know what you think!

Bean Sprout Soup

by CJ Huang

Materials:

Mass	Weight	Volume	Number	Material	Notes
				tomato, wedges
				bean sprouts
				seaweed
				water
				miso

Methods:

1. Soak seaweed overnight (or follow package directions) and discard water.
2. Combine water (reserve ~1 cup), seaweed, and tomato in pot and bring to a boil. The bean sprouts can be added at any time, even after the heat is turned off, depending on how soft you like them.
3. Mix remaining water with miso until homogeneous.
4. Add miso to soup just before serving since boiling the miso will kill off the beneficial bacteria.

Asian Mushroom Noodle Soup

With all this cold weather, I thought, "what's better than a bowl of warm soup?" I knew I wanted to use the cellophane noodles since they seem to add a special touch. Fortunately, I had some around. I also looked forward to using the shiitake mushrooms I recently got. And then, I thought some baby bok choy might go well, but I didn't quite make it to the Asian grocery, and I wasn't about to pay double or triple for the small, yellowed ones I saw at the regular grocery store. Luckily, I got a good deal on some spinach, so I used that instead. If you do use the bok choy, you would want to put that in with the soup to cook it a bit as opposed to just pouring the soup over the spinach like I did. Although this soup tasted quite delicious, next time, I would use fewer mushrooms (having forgotten about them expanding as they rehydrated) and maybe add in some miso to give it some additional flavor.

What's your favorite soup?

Asian Mushroom Noodle Soup

by CJ Huang

Materials:

Mass	Weight	Volume	Number	Material	Notes
			1-2 portions	cellophane noodles, soaked
		2 teaspoons		garlic, minced
			5-10	mushrooms, sliced	I used dried shiitake mushrooms.
			2 handfuls	spinach
			2	carrots, julienned
		2 teaspoons		ginger, minced
		1/2 teaspoon		pepper, ground
				stock or water
				green onions, sliced

Methods:

1. Add all ingredients except noodles, spinach, and green onions to a pot and bring to a boil. If you're using bok choy, you'd probably want to add it in at this point.
2. Stir in noodles and simmer for a few more minutes.
3. Place a handful of spinach in each bowl, and pour the soup on top. The heat from the soup will cook the spinach. I know a handful sounds like a lot, but the spinach will cook down quite a bit.
4. Sprinkle green onions on top, if desired.

Pond Scum Soup, Version 3.0

I'd previously made pond scum soup and pond scum soup v2.0, but I thought I'd make some updates and create pond scum soup v3.0. I wanted to add a bit more flavor this time, so I added some of the small dried anchovies I had. The anchovies I used were the small (about 1 inch long) kind that are pretty common in Asian grocery stores, not the larger ones packed into a can. Although, as flexible as pond scum soup is, you could probably use those as well!

What's your favorite kind of soup?

Pond Scum Soup v3.0

by CJ Huang

Materials:

Mass	Weight	Volume	Number	Material	Notes
				seaweed	I used kim.
				green onions
				sesame seeds, toasted
				anchovies	optional
				water or stock
				ginger, grated
				miso

Methods:

1. Bring seaweed, anchovies, ginger, and water or stock to a boil.
2. Turn off heat, and stir in miso. You don't want to add the miso when the soup is too hot because it will kill off the healthy bacteria in the miso. (It's the same bacteria that's in yogurt.)
3. Sprinkle green onions and sesame seeds on top as a garnish.

Miso Soup

A nice light soup, good for those times when you've eaten a little too much, or just in general. :) This is a very simple miso soup, consisting of just miso, water/stock, and seaweed, garnished with green onions. Miso is a thick paste, and when made into a soup, a Japanese staple. It's also got a bit of protein and is rich with vitamins and minerals. There's also a variety of misos available. I used akamiso, or red miso.

What's your favorite simple soup?

Miso Soup

by CJ Huang

A simple miso soup - just miso and seaweed with a green onion garnish.

Materials:

Mass	Weight	Volume	Number	Material	Notes
				miso
				stock or water
				seaweed	I used sliced, salted seaweed. The thicker kind that you can find at the Asian grocery tied in knots or sliced. Not sure what the name of the seaweed is.
				green onions, sliced

Methods:

1. Prepare seaweed according to package directions (or soak in water for at least a few hours - overnight is preferred if you got it from a big bin).
2. Cut seaweed into small pieces (optional, but I didn't want to have long seaweed strands. Another option to avoid cutting is to get the knots).
3. Boil water or stock with seaweed.
4. Mix miso into a small amount of water, and add it to the soup. You don't want to boil the miso since that will kill off the beneficial bacteria.
5. Serve and garnish with green onions.

Teriyaki Salmon Miso Noodle Soup

After making the quick and easy teriyaki salmon, I was thinking about how to make it into a better, more well rounded meal. I thought about maybe doing something similar to the duck noodle soup I had made a while back, but with the teriyaki salmon. I have also been trying various miso soups, including pond scum soup v 2.0. I incorporated various aspects of each of those, and the result was something better than each of the parts! And so, without further ado...

What's your favorite noodle soup?

Teriyaki Salmon Miso Noodle Soup

by CJ Huang

Flavorful teriyaki salmon in a noodle soup with miso, shiitake mushrooms and spinach, garnished with seaweed.

Materials:

Mass	Weight	Volume	Number	Material	Notes
				teriyaki salmon
				shiitake mushrooms, sliced
				green onions, sliced
				noodles
				kim
				water or stock
				miso
				spinach	optional

Methods:

1. Boil the shiitake mushrooms in stock or water.
2. Cook the noodles.
3. Mix the miso into some of the slightly cooled stock or water.
4. Divide the noodles into bowls, and pour the broth over them. If using spinach, add it to the stock or water just before pouring over the noodles or to the noodles just before pouring the water or stock over them.
5. Pour the miso into each bowl.
6. Garnish with kim and green onions.

Pond Scum Soup, Version 2

Previously, I made some pond scum soup, and I thought I'd try another version of that. Or rather, I made a tasty soup, but couldn't get a decent picture of it. And without further ado...

What's your favorite non-photogenic food?

Pond Scum Soup, Version 2

by CJ Huang

A new version of Pond Scum Soup.

Materials:

Mass	Weight	Volume	Number	Material	Notes
				stock or water
				sesame seeds
				green onions
				greens	I used turnip greens. Spinach or just about any other greens would also work well.
				seaweed	I used kim, but nori or other seaweeds would also work well.
				miso

Methods:

1. Bring stock or water to a boil.
2. Add in greens and seaweed.
3. Turn off heat, and stir in miso. You don't want to add miso when the soup is too hot since it will kill off the bacteria in the miso. (It's the same bacteria that's in yogurt.)
4. Sprinkle sesame seeds and green onions on top.