Miso Soup with Kabocha and Japanese Eggplant

Miso soup is a flavorful soup that is essential to Japanese home cooking. It is enjoyed with seasonal vegetables and other ingredients of your choice. Here, we introduce a vegetable miso soup made with kombu dashi.

Cooking time

10min

Calories

62kcal

Sodium

744mg

Nutrition facts are for one serving.
Cooking time excludes the time for soaking the kombu in water.

Ingredients(Servings: 2)

Kombu Dashi* :
kombu / kelp

10 g (0.4 oz.)
water

500 ml
(16.9 fl oz.)

kabocha squash / Japanese pumpkin

60 g (2.1 oz.)
Japanese eggplant

1 (80 g / 2.8 oz.)
miso

1 & 1/2 Tbsp

* Use 300 ml (10.1 fl oz.) of the prepared kombu dashi

Directions

1

Make the kombu dashi. Put the kombu and water into a pot and let sit for 3 hours. Place the pot over medium-low heat, turn off the heat just before it comes to a boil, and remove the kombu.

* The kombu used to make dashi is edible, so don’t throw it away. Cut it into bite-sized pieces and use it in soup or simmered dishes.
2

Cut the kabocha squash into easy-to-eat pieces. Cut the Japanese eggplant into 1 cm (0.4 in.) half-moons. Put 300 ml (10.1 fl oz.) of the kombu dashi from step 1 into a pot and heat over medium heat. When it starts to gently bubble, add the kabocha squash and Japanese eggplant, cover, and simmer over low heat for about 4 minutes.
3

Dissolve the miso into the soup and mix. Turn the heat to medium, then turn off the heat just before it comes to a boil.

Cooking Basics

Dashi - how to make from kombu

Ingredients (for 880 ml / 27 fl. oz. of dashi)

Kombu/kelp: 15 - 20 g (0.5 - 0.7 oz.)

Water: 1000 ml (33.8 fl. oz.)

Directions

Soak the kombu in water and let sit for 30 minutes, then heat over medium heat. When the water comes to a boil, lower the heat and allow to simmer for 7 to 8 minutes.

Eggplants - half-circle slices