I remember the first time I gave a cup of miso soup to the kiddo when we bought sushi for snack. My goodness, when he tasted it the expression on his face was priceless! But that was more than a couple of years ago. Miso probably is an acquired taste; now he couldn’t get enough of it. With that in mind I researched on how to make the stock called dashi to be able to prepare this traditional Japanese soup at home whenever it strikes our fancy. I always stock my pantry with the right ingredients, some quite hard to find (konbu I can only find in Japanese stores), and below details the proportions that I cook quite regularly.  This is just perfect to match pork katsu; photos and how-to’s in my next post (to follow).

It’s a good idea to cook the dashi few hours before a meal; I find that it is more flavorful that way. Tofu and spring onion can be added later when you’re ready to go.

Ingredients:
4-5 cups water
1 large strip of konbu (dried kelp), cut into about 5in long pieces
A handful of katsuobushi (dried, smoked bonito flakes)
4-5 tbsp shiro miso, or combination of shiro and aka (dark) miso
1 teaspoon chopped onion spring
Japanese soy sauce (shoyu, optional)
1/2 cube silken tofu, diced
1/2 teaspoon dried wakame (seaweed)

To make dashi, add konbu pieces to a pot of cold water. Bring the water to a simmer over medium heat. Then scoop out konbu to discard.

Add bonito flakes, then remove the pot from heat. Leave for about a minute. Then strain bonito flakes out of the dashi.

Whisk miso paste with 1/4 cup of dashi until creamy. Stir into the pot of dashi and simmer for a minute. (This is the part where you can either leave it till later for a more flavorful broth or you can proceed to the next step.)

Add in tofu and wakame and simmer for about 2 minutes.

Serve hot garnished with spring onion. You may add a bit of shoyu to taste.

Iska

I am not a professional cook. My only claim to having a culinary background is a short stint as my dad’s teen ‘sous chef’ in his carinderia ages ago. Dad ran small eateries since I was a young kid - serving standard ‘turo-turo’ food ranging from the likes of menudo, adobo, pritong isda, dinuguan, binagoongan, bopis, munggo, pinakbet and giniling to merienda fares like goto, ginataan, pancit bihon, halu-halo and saging con yelo.

My father, a farmer in his hometown before working his way to becoming an accountant, definitely influenced my cooking in a lot of ways than I thought. My siblings and I were raised in a backyard full of fruit trees and vegetable garden. We spent weekends and the summer breaks running around with ducks, chickens, goats and pigs. I had wonderful memories of gathering eggs, butchering chickens, selling vegetables and the sweet aroma of preserved fruits. But my love for art led me to a degree in Architecture. Just few months after getting my license, I went abroad and lived independently at age 23. Definitely no maid, no cook, and a totally different food culture. Along the way I met lots of friends and spent what seemed a lifetime learning new tricks and recipes.

Now living in Auckland, I am a work-from-home mum who juggles time between work, fun and family - in pursuit of work-life balance. No matter how busy I am, I love the idea of cooking for my family. My blog chronicles home cooking greatly influenced by life outside my home country from Southeast Asia to Beijing and Auckland. And most of the time, being busy also means easy (sometimes quick), affordable meals.