About the Recipe
This soup uses more modern vegetable ingredients than you might find in a more traditional Japanese miso soup. You can use either a dark or light miso but bear in mind a darked variant will be saltier than a lighter miso.
Ingredients
2cm / 1 in thick slices of aubergine / eggplant
5cm / 2 in piece of courgette / zucchini
1/2 medium onion
2 baby sweetcorn
1/2 small red bell pepper
500ml / 18 fl oz water
1 heaped tsp instant Japanese dashi granules
1 large oba/shiso leaf for a garnish (or 1 chopped spring onion or 1 tsp toasted sesame seeds)
Preparation
slice the the aubergine / eggplant into 2 pieces. soak in water for 10 minutes to remove the bitter flavour
cut the courgette/zucchini into 1cm / 1/2 inches slices
peel the onion, cut off the top & tail and cut into 6 slices
sut each baby corn into 2 pieces diagonally
cut the bell pepper into 8 bite size pieces
drain the water from the aubergine, then cut into 10 - 12 bite size pieces
combine the instant Japanese dashi granules with the water and all the vegetables in a small pan. bring to the boil and simmer for 5-6 minutes
meanwhile, prepare your garnish by shredding the oba leaf or spring onion
when the simmering time is up, add the miso to the saucepan in a ladle filled with some of the stock (but still in the saucepan.) use a fork to dissolve the miso into the stock. (this will dissolve the miso in the stock without breaking up any of the vegetables.) once the miso is dissolved, turn off the heat.
add your garnish and serve