I will admit that I am miso soup ambivalent. The rest of the world though, apparently loves the stuff and my fiancé begged me to figure out how to make it. Challenge accepted.

Thankfully I did not have to look far to find a recipe in JustBento’s . A quick reading revealed that miso soup, like boba, is one of those dishes that are so easy you will kick yourself for paying for them. Even better you can assemble the ingredients ahead of time and bring them along for what I think of as a soup grenade.

What you will need:

From left to right:

-Cut Wakame: This is basically tiny morsels of dried up seaweed. The start out looking like pressed flowers but bloom into small sheets of delicious… seaweed. Look I know that is not super appetizing to everyone but it is hard to have miso soup without it.

-Red and White Soybean Paste: I happen to like this brand and soy paste comes in various sorts. The red soy has a stronger flavor than the white but together they help create a complex mouth filling flavor.

-Hon dashi: If you want to cook Japanese food you need to go down to the store and buy this today. The alternative to instant dashi/bouillon (which I will cover in a future post) is time consuming, finicky and not something you can just whip up at a moments notice. Plus, hondashi tastes pretty damn good so I consider it an acceptable substitute.

-Not Shown: Tofu (I prefer silken), hot water, plastic wrap that does not suck, diced green onions.

Step 1:

Acquire tablespoon and fill half of it with red soybean paste. It does not have to be exact and you should feel free to vary the ratio of red-to-white miso to fit your tastes.

Step 2:

Fill the other half with the other half with white soybean paste.

Step 3:

Put some wakame and some hon dashi into the center of a piece of plastic wrap. Again, the amount of each is really up to you. I happen to really like seaweed so I put a fair amount in. The wakame is going to expand like sponge when it hits the hot water so don’t throw in a whole tablespoon unless you want a seaweed salad. I will also suggest you go light on the hon dashi until you get a feel for how much you like in your soup. Putting in a full tablespoon of hon dashi will result in “fish soup with a hint of miso” and not the desired inverse.

NOTE: If you buy your plastic wrap from the supermarket, it is highly likely that you are getting a sub-par plastic wrap experience. Do yourself a favor, head to Costco and buy the giant container of Kirkland brand plastic food wrap. Trust me, you will wonder why people blow money on name brand.

Step 4:

Put some green onions onto along with your miso mixture. Leave in public places just like this to confuse people.

Step 5:

Draw the plastic wrap up by four corners, making a little pouch. Use your fingers to mash all the ingredients together as you express any remaining air from the pouch.

Step 6:

Wrap the whole thing tight by twisting the excess plastic wrap into a tail. Your miso soup bomb is ready to go! Just add hot water and stir, preferably with chopsticks or a fork.

Step 7:

When you reconsitute your soup, be sure to let it soak for a bit so the wakame will have time to rehydrate. Otherwise, it can get a little crunchy.

Step 8:

Eat your handcrafted miso soup and laugh at people who pay money for this easy and delicious dish.