Step by Step Guide:
Miso Soup with Vegetable Dashi

Cooking Tips:
This cooking kit includes all the ingredients needed to make four servings of miso soup. The kombu and shiitake mushrooms can be reused to make another batch of miso with the addition of vegetable scraps.

We strongly recommend using a thermometer to ensure you cook the dashi at the correct temperature. Cooking it at an incorrect temperature can drastically affect the flavour, resulting in either an under-extracted dashi or the release of unpleasant flavours from the ingredients.

We’d love to see how you bring our recipes to life. Share it with us on instagram @takahashi.at.home

COOKING INSTRUCTIONS:

Step 1: With a pair of scissors, cut the kombu into small pieces, roughly 4 inches long and 1 inch wide.

Step 2: Soak the Shiitake mushrooms and kombu in 1L of water overnight, or for at least one hour if preparing it on the same day.

Step 3: In a medium-sized pot, gently heat the ingredients for at least 30 minutes, maintaining a temperature between 55-63°C.

*Note: Cooking above 65°C may bring out unpleasant tastes from the kombu and shiitake mushrooms.

Step 4: Halfway through the heating process (around the 15-minute mark), stir the ingredients to ensure thorough flavour extraction.

Step 5: Taste the dashi. If the flavours haven’t fully developed, continue cooking for an additional 2-5 minutes.

Step 6: Strain the dashi through a fine strainer and allow it to coo to room temperature. Then, using a muslin cloth, squeeze out as much liquid as possible. Set aside the Shittake mushrooms and Kombu for another batch of dashi. Refrigerate the ingredients for up to 3 days if you are not making the second batch immediately.

Step 7: Measure the amount of dashi you have and add miso paste according to taste. A 100:10 dashi to miso ratio is a good starting point. If you have a miso trainer, place the miso paste inside and lower it into the dashi. Pass the miso paste through the strainer gently until you have a smooth miso soup. Alternatively, whisk the miso paste into soup until fully dissolved, then strain it through a fine strainer.

Step 8: Simmer the soup over very low heat, aiming to bring the soup to a temperature range of about 75-85°C. Look for delicate wisps of steam starting to rise from the soup, and small bubbles, akin to the size of a shrimp’s eye, forming sporadically on the surface. This indicates the soup is approaching the desired temperature.

*It’s important to avoid boiling the soup, as high heat can detract from its nuanced flavours, delicate aromas, and nutritional content.

SECOND BATCH COOKING INSTRUCTIONS:

Step 1: In 1L of water, combine the remaining shiitake mushrooms and kombu from the initial batch of dashi with 200g of vegetable scraps.

Step 2: Bring the mixture to around 85-90°C over medium heat and simmer for 30 minutes to fully extract the flavours from the ingredients.

Step 3: Repeat steps 6-8 from the recipe above.