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 miso soup made with kombu dashi.

• by Yuko Ihara

Miso soup (味噌汁) is a soup made by simmering ingredients in dashi and seasoning it with miso, a traditional Japanese seasoning. It is widely enjoyed as an everyday home-cooked dish, served together with rice. The cooking method is simple, but the flavor changes depending on the type of dashi and miso used, allowing for many different variations.

Miso is a fermented seasoning. It has the rich flavor of soybeans and is high in amino acids, giving it strong umami that helps bring the overall flavor of the dish together.

If miso is simmered for too long, its aroma will fade, so dissolve it into the soup at the final stage, after the ingredients are cooked through. Then turn off the heat just before it comes to a boil again. This state just before boiling is called “niebana （煮えばな）”, and it is considered an important moment when the aroma of miso gently spreads.

Kombu Dashi:

Kombu - 10g (0.4 oz.)
Water - 500ml (16.9 fl oz.)
*Use 300ml of the prepared kombu dashi

Kabocha - 60g (2.1 oz.)
Japanese eggplant - 1 (80g / 2.8 oz.)
Miso - 1 1/2 Tbsp

Miso is a fermented food made from “koji” (steamed grains cultivated with koji mold), soybeans, and salt. It can be divided into barley miso, made with barley koji (left in the photo); rice miso, made with rice koji (center); and soybean miso, made by adding koji starter directly to soybeans (right). The color and flavor vary greatly depending on the salt content and production method, and many different types of miso exist throughout Japan. One of the appeals of miso is the enjoyment of finding the flavor you like best.

There are very few vegetables that do not go well with miso soup. Potatoes and other root vegetables, as well as leafy greens, work well, and you can also make delicious miso soup with vegetables not commonly used in Japanese cuisine. Celery, tomatoes, and broccoli are also recommended ingredients for miso soup.

Kombu dashi can also be made simply by soaking kombu in water for a long time. Just put water and kombu in a bottle and leave it in the refrigerator overnight. Compared with dashi made by simmering, it has a cleaner, lighter flavor. Use it up within about 2 to 3 days.

Having lived in England and the U.S., Yuko Ihara is well-versed in a wide range of culinary genres. As a culinary researcher, she creates dishes for magazines and books, develops corporate menus, and also engages in product development and food consulting. She introduces easy-to-follow tips on how to make delicious food at home, emphasizing the importance of seasonality and healthful eating. When travelling, she loves to search for delicious vegetables and ingredients.

Instagram: @iharayukoo