Enjoy Japanese Cuisine with a Miso Soup recipe

There are many variations of this soup. One Miso soup recipe requires shrimp, another tofu, and another utilizes garlic as a key savory ingredient. Even vegetarians and vegans can easily find a delicious Miso soup recipe.

There is a word in Japanese for the fifth taste. After sweet, sour, salty, and bitter, there is umami, which basically means delicious. Adventurous tourists may fly all the way to Tokyo for umami cuisine, but all one needs to do is take a trip to the grocery store for basic ingredients in order to whip up Miso soup recipe, which is very simple and appetizing. 

Recipe 

Required Ingredients

• 2 cups of water

• 1 stalk of green onion, thinly sliced

• ½ package of tofu, cubed

• 2 teaspoons of dried wakame flakes (seaweed)

• 2 tablespoons of white miso paste

Method:

Boil 1 ½ cups of water.

Allow wakame flakes to expand in a bowl of cold water for a ten to fifteen minutes.

Add the green onions and tofu into the water.

Now drain the wakame and also add into the boiling water.

Mix the miso paste in half a cup of water and whisk until it dissolves.

Turn off the heat, add the miso paste, and gently stir it into the soup. Enjoy!

Origin 

Miso paste was brought to Japan by Buddhist monks, who began using it to enrich the flavor of rice and broths. It was invented by fermenting soybeans and grinding the product into a paste, a process which may date back to 800 B.C. in China.

According to Japanese mythology, miso paste was a gift to man from the gods in the form of health, happiness, and longevity. As fire was a gift to man from the gods in Greek mythology, it is somewhat apt that this gift became a component of each Miso soup recipe, as it is said by the Japanese to warm the body and soul. 

Miso soup became a common item in American grocery stores back in the 1960s and is steadily increasing in popularity since. 

Benefits 

Aside from the taste, there are many health benefits of drinking hot Miso soup. For the good it will do your body, it would be wise to have a Miso soup recipe or two handy for cold winter evenings. Not only is is a health booster, it is unbelievably quick and easy to make, unlike other soup recipes with lengthy processes of cooking meat for hours or having to debone and slice chicken. 

According to BBC News, nutritionists recommend two to three servings of miso soup a day to women to help prevent breast cancer. Miso paste contains isoflavones, which are natural substances that that mimic the female sex hormone estrogen. Research has led scientists to believe that excess estrogen causes breast cancer and the isoflavones help minimize the harmful effects of estrogen. 

Try this Miso Soup recipe today. It sure is a generous source of vitamins such as copper, zinc, and manganese. When consumed with shrimp or tofu, it is a good source of lean proteins as well.