Wednesday I made J. Kenji Lopez-Alt’s Miso Soup recipe from The Wok.

The recipe is pretty straightforward. Dashi is first warmed to a “subsimmer.”

Then miso paste (Kenji says white, red, or brown can be used) is whisked into the dashi through a fine-mesh strainer. This is Kenji’s technique to make sure the miso is lump free. Any large lumps remaining in the strainer are removed. It worked really well for me!

Soft tofu and wakame are added and simmered until the wakame is softened. I got the wakame from Your DeKalb Farmers Market which carries Maine Coast Sea Vegetables brand. Looking into it later, this wakame is not the same as that normally used in miso soup. The back of the packaging notes that the Maine Coast Sea Vegetable alaria “wakame” needs a lot more time to soften than the regular wakame. I removed the center rib to help make it go faster, but mostly gave it plenty of time in the hot soup.

Finally, sliced scallions are added.

I thought it tasted good. It tasted like other miso soups I’ve had. It was a lot more miso-y than at restaurants. Kenji uses a tablespoon of miso paste per cup of dashi (six tablespoons in one and a half quarts of dashi in the recipe), but I’m sure it’s a fluid ratio and can be adjusted to taste.

I’m the only one in the family that likes miso soup (Megan tried it for me, but wouldn’t choose it), so I probably won’t make it again.

I am cooking my way through J. Kenji Lopez-Alt’s The Wok cookbook. Read more about it.