SERVES 4
Many kids like miso soup when they have it at Japanese restaurants, and it’s easy to make from scratch at home. The packets that you can buy of miso soup work in a pinch, but they can have sugar and/or MSG in them, or they can be especially high in sodium. Beyond helping you to avoid these unnecessary ingredients, making your own miso soup allows you to use fresh miso paste, which has probiotic properties. When possible, buy miso paste that is sold in the refrigerated section of the store, as it has live cultures. You can use whichever type you would like for the soup, though white has the mildest flavor, which many kids prefer. Buying miso paste with dashi (soup stock) already in it saves time. You can make other versions of the soup by adding vegetables like spinach, enoki mushrooms, or daikon radish, or other proteins instead of tofu, like egg or clams.
2 tablespoons dried wakame seaweed
4 cups water
¾ cup tofu (you can use silken, medium, or firm, depending on your preference), cubed
3 to 4 tablespoons miso paste with dashi (or make your own dashi using kombu and bonito; see Note)
1 green onion, both white and green parts, finely sliced (optional)
1. If you are not using miso paste with dashi in it, follow the steps in the notes below to make dashi of your own using kombu and bonito flakes.
2. Put the dried wakame in a small bowl and cover with water to rehydrate it and remove any sand or dirt.
3. Bring the water (or prepared dashi) to a boil and turn down the heat.
4. Add the tofu and allow it to warm through. Then add the wakame.
5. Turn off the heat. You do not want to boil the miso paste, which you will add in the next step, or it will kill the beneficial bacteria.
6. In a small dish or in a soup ladle, mix the miso paste with a little of the soup broth to dissolve it. Add it to the pot. If the soup has cooled off, you can gently warm it again, but do not bring it to a boil.
7. Ladle the soup into small bowls and top with the sliced green onion.
Note: If your miso paste does not include dashi, which is a type of stock, you can make your own using kombu, which is a type of thick seaweed, and bonito (smoked tuna) flakes. Take one piece of kombu, approximately 4x6 inches, and wipe it clean with a damp paper towel or cloth. Bring 4 cups of water to a boil in a small pot, reduce the heat to low, add the kombu, and cook for 20 minutes, without boiling. Remove the kombu and add 1 cup of bonito flakes. Boil for 1 minute and then strain out the bonito flakes. Use this broth in place of the 4 cups of water in the ingredient list above. For a vegetarian stock, use just the kombu and skip the bonito.
NUTRITION FACTS PER SERVING: Calories 130 Total Fat 2g Protein 14g Total Carbohydrate 14g Dietary Fiber 8g Total Sugars 3g Added Sugars 0g