Do You Like Miso Soup

When my husband is out of town, I often let our daughter E pick what we’ll have for dinner. Almost always her first pick is lasagna, followed by peanut butter noodles or macaroni and “cheese.” The girl loves her pasta. Recently, however, I was thrilled when she told me what she wanted: Miso soup. Actually, what she said was, “I want a soup that’s warm and brothy, mostly liquid, not all thick and full of stuff like most of your soups are, Mom.”
She had me there. Usually when I make soup, I cram in veggies and beans and potatoes to make it a one-pot meal. I am, as I’ve said before, basically a lazy cook, and if I can get away with making only one dish for dinner, I’ll take the easy way almost every time.

But I can do brothy, if that’s what she wants; after all, brothy is easy, too. E’s crazy about miso soup, so that’s what we settled on, with silken tofu just like her favorite Japanese restaurant does it. Of course I had to add a little extra something-something: mushrooms-mushrooms. I adore the earthy flavor that shiitakes contribute to miso soup, and I tossed in a few white mushrooms for good measure. And you know what? We each ate three bowls. Because that’s the kind of thing we can get away with when her father is away!
6 cups vegetable broth (I used No-chicken Broth)
1/2 cup (.35 ounce) dried sliced shiitake mushrooms
1 tablespoon dried shredded wakame (optional, but good)
1 cup sliced white mushrooms
1/2 carton (about 6 ounces) firm silken tofu, cut into 1/2-inch cubes (I used Mori-nu Lite)
2-3 tablespoons white miso
Bring the vegetable broth to a boil and add the dried mushrooms and seaweed. (If you are using whole dried mushrooms, add them now, let them soften, and remove them and slice before adding back to the pan with the other ingredients.) Simmer until mushrooms are softened, about 10 minutes.
Add the button mushrooms and silken tofu and simmer until the mushrooms are tender. Ladle out about 1/2 cup of the broth and stir it into 2 tablespoons of the miso. Mix until smooth and add to the pot. Taste, and if more miso is needed, repeat the process with another tablespoon of miso.
Allow the soup to simmer for about 5 more minutes without boiling and serve.
This makes about 6 large bowls or 8 smaller ones. Based on 6 servings, each bowl provides 38 Calories (kcal); 1g Total Fat; (11% calories from fat); 4g Protein; 6g Carbohydrate; 0mg Cholesterol; 705mg Sodium; 1g Fiber.