Miso soup in its basic, traditional form is a rather simple dish, consisting of only a few ingredients. You might enjoy miso soup because it is a comforting, flavorful dish, or perhaps you consume it in order to benefit from the healthy and nutritional qualities it contains. However, the recipe doesn’t always have to be so simple. When making your own miso soup, you can add additional ingredients for even more flavor and nutritional health benefits.
A Few Simple Additions
Many additional healthy ingredients you might add to your miso soup will work well together to create that umami flavor experience. These include:
Shrimp or fish—fish flavors lend themselves very well to any miso soup recipe.
Mushrooms—maitake or enoki mushrooms, easily found in any Asian supermarket, also add great flavor and impart a number of additional health benefits. These include helping to fight against cancer and reducing the side effects of cancer treatments, and promoting better heart health.
Clams or crab—again, two unique fish flavors that will definitely create that umami miso soup recipe. Clams are high in iron and low in contaminants found in other fish, as well as high in protein and heart-healthy fats. Crab helps to improve bone health, memory function, immune systems and heart health.
Tip: To save time and money, both crab and clams can be bought pre-chopped in a can.
Add a Bunch of Ingredients to Create a Miso Stew
Add a bunch of ingredients and create a stew rather than a soup. Gather together your favorite mushrooms, garlic, onions or leeks, and sauté them before adding them to your dashi stock. Add edamame, sliced red and green pepper, and a fish protein if you desire, such as bite-sized cod pieces or shrimp, and allow to cook with the other basic miso soup ingredients before adding the miso paste at the end.
The addition of all these ingredients to your basic recipe not only makes a delicious meal out of the humble bowl of soup, but also delivers a power-packing punch to your immune system. It’s the perfect replacement for chicken soup during those cold and flu season months.
