Ingredients:

1 radish (daikon)

Miso paste seasoning:

300g miso paste
135g fine sugar
1 cup soy sauce
1/2 cup Japanese sake

Preparations:
Wash and rinse radish, halve and slice into 3cm thick pieces. In a medium bowl, combine the seasoning sauce and mix well until the sugar had dissolved. Place radish slices in a bowl and sprinkle with some salt. Gently toss well and press them with heavy object for 8 hours, stir often to release the excess moisture. Remove and dry with kitchen towels. Spread a layer of miso sauce in radish slices, top with another layer of miso sauce mixture. Set aside and let rest for 16 hours, mix often. Remove miso sauce from radish. Chill them in refrigerator. Rinse with some water, drain and cut into bite size then serve.

Most of Japanese recipes is using ingredients such as mirin, soy sauce, dashi stock, miso, sake etc to create traditional Japanese taste. By combining these ingredients, you can create you own favorite taste.

Most of the time Japanese Miso is used in making soup recipes. However, you can also use miso  to make miso paste sauce for marinade.

Ingredients:

600g miso paste
300g fine sugar
150g soy sauce
150g Japanese sake

Preparation:

Combine the above ingredients in a medium bowl. Stir well until the sugar is dissolved. Marinade with vegetables such as radish, lettuce heart, Japanese cucumber, carrot.

You can make more miso paste marinade, store and chill in refrigerator.

Miso soups (味噌汁) is the simplest and easy soup recipes to prepare. It is also very versatile where the ingredients can vary among vegetables, seafood, tofu, pork and chicken. The taste of the soups may be different depending of the ingredients, quantity of ingredients to be used. To cook a simple and smooth miso soup, always remember the rules / important point here – “Do not overcooked the miso” as miso require only a VERY short cooking time. Overcooking miso destroys the natural fragrant and the texture of the soup becomes rough to the tongue. As such, always cook other ingredients first, then just before serving, add in miso and stir until it dissolves.

Okay.. Having read the above point of cooking in Japanese miso soup recipe, let’s try soups of the day – “Miso soup with clams” (アサリの味噌汁).

Ingredients (Yields 4 servings)

400g asari (clams)
1 kombu(10cm)
4 cups water
3 1/2 tbsps red miso
salted water
chopped scallion
shichimi to taste

Preparations
Put the clams into a colander and place the colander in a large bowl of salted cold water (1 tbsp salt to 1 quart water). Let the clams stand in a cool place for 2 ~ 3 hours to expel any sand. Then wash and rinse the clams under cold running water. Add in the clams, kombu and water in a medium pot. Bring the mixture to boil over medium heat. When the water turns turbid white (muddy white), take out the kombu, reduce the heat, gently take the foam and white scum on top out. Boil for about 7 mins or until all clams are open. Turn off heat and add in the miso, wait for it to dissolve. Trasfer into individual bowls, top with chipped scallion, shichimi and serve hot with steamed rice.

In this post I gonna share you some of the important ingredients in Japanese Cooking Recipes. Most of the time you might have no idea what is those ingredients looks like?

For instance, what is shichimi togarashi(七味唐辛子) which it also called nanami togarashi in Japanese? As it’s name, it contain seven ingredients. The main ingredient is coarsely ground red chili pepper, to which is typically added, mandarin orange peel, sesame seed, poppy seed, hemp seed, nori, ground sansho (a relative of Sichuan pepper).

Katsuobushi(鰹節) which is widely used in garnish of Okonomiyaki(お好み焼き), Takoyaki (たこ焼き) etc and to flavor soup stock. It is dried shavings of the bonito fish;

Miso(味噌), a paste made from soybeans and used in soups, sauces, and as a garnish.
It has various flavors such as

1) Shiromiso(白味噌), “white miso”,
2) Akamiso(赤味噌), “red miso”,
3) Kuromiso(黒味噌), “black miso”,
4) Hatchomiso(八丁味噌),is made by the Hatcho Miso Company in Hatcho (Eighth street), to the west of Okazaki castle. The name Hatcho is taken from this location. In the Meiji era, Hatcho Miso became the daily choice of the Emperor of Japan.

White and red (shiromiso and akamiso) are the basic types of miso available in all of Japan as well as overseas. Different varieties are preferred in particular regions. For example, in the eastern Kantō region that includes Tokyo, the lighter shiromiso is popular, while in the western Kansai region encompassing Osaka, Kyoto, and Kobe, darker brownish hatchomiso is preferred, and akamiso is favoured in the Tokai area.

Recently I read this great book, “The Art of Cooking with Miso” by Jan Belle. I would strongly recommend to all who likes cooking with Miso especially miso beginner is a must.

Japanese Cooking Ingredients (1)

See Also : Japanese Instant Cooking Ingredients

Osumashi (Japanese Clear Soup)                Miso (Soybean Paste Soup)

Free and easy Japanese soup recipes – Osumashi vs Miso Soup Recipes

Soups play an important main role in most Japanese meals. They are classified into two broad groups: clear soups and thick soups and usually serve together with meal in Japanese restaurant. Clear soup (osumashi/suimono) is usually served at the beginning of a meal. This delicately flavored soup can be varied by the addition of many different kinds of garnishes. The slightly thicker, sweeter soups flavored with red of white soybean paste (mishoshiru) are generally served toward the end of a formal Japanese meal. Both kinds of soups can be made with dashinomoto, a powdered soup base available at specialty grocery stores.

Osumashi (Basic Clear Soup) Recipe

Ingredients:

3 cup water
1 tsp dashinomoto
1/2 tsp salt
1/2 tsp soy sauce
4 mushroom slices for garnish
chopped chives for garnish

Preparations:

In a saucepan, bring water to boil add in dashinomoto, salt and soy sauce. Remove immediately from heat. Pour into 4 small bowls and garnish each with a mushroom slice and a pinch of chives. Ready for serve.

Misoshiru (Soybean Paste soup) Recipe

Ingredients:

3 cup water
2tbsp dashinomoto
1/2 tofu age (deep fried tofu)
1/2 cup miso
1/2 block tofu cut into cubed
wakame seaweed cut into bite size
2 scallions, chopped into thin rounds for granish

Preparations:

In a saucepan, bring water to boil add in dashinomoto and miso. Add tofu, tofu age, wakame seaweed and bring mixture to a boil again. Remove from heat, pour into 4 small bowls and garnish with scallions. Ready for serve.

In Japan, it is very common to cook Saba (Mackerel) with japanese miso. This is because mackerel has a distinctive fishy smell and using miso can cover the smell and add in good japanese traditional flavor. Mackerel is another source that full of DHA and EPA, but, you need to consume it wisely, meaning to select the right type of mackerel to avoid from mercury contamination. Select Atlantic mackerel which is less mercury contamination and avoid King mackerel and Spanish mackerel.

Ingredients:

2 mackerels
1 tbsp sake
1/2 cup water
2 tbsp sugar
3 tbsp miso
1 ginger sliced
1 spring onion sliced

Preparations : (2 serving)

Cut the mackerel into half. Mix water, sake, sugar ,ginger slices and miso in a pan and heat to boil. Add mackerel and simmer it for 10 minutes on low heat. Slowly stir and pour the sauce over the mackerel. Add in spring onion and stir well. Stop the heat and ready to serve.

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