R.J.
We eat Miso almost every day. :) It's one of those great things where the CONCEPT is very simple, which makes it infinitely variable.
Overall concept:
Dashi (soup base... comes in granules or liquid form)
Water
Miso Paste
Extras (tofu cubes, green onion, wakame aka thin seaweed)
Practically
Super easy, super fast. Measure out water and dashi. Bring to a boil. Take OFF of heat and stir in miso paste. Garnish with extras. Serve. Literally a 2 minute soup.
But that's where simplicity bites you in the tucus. There are sooooooo many different variations/ kids of dashi, miso, tofu, & wakame that they can make hundreds of different "types" of miso soup.
One reason why "instant" miso never tastes right is that restaurants usually use Awase Miso Paste (mix of red and white), while most mixes just use Shiro (white) miso or Aka (red) miso. And miso is fermented... which also means it tastes one whole heckuva lot better wet. When you dry it out for powdered instant miso a lot of the flavor evaporates. Double whammy.
We make 2 versions of miso soup in our house. The ONLY difference is the Dashi. One is a granular miso, and one is a liquid that is more for Udon soup base, but is still bonito. Kinda like the difference between bouillon and stock. They're the same thing... but the process makes them just a tad different. The liquid dashi adds a bit of smokey overtone which I like, but the granular is more "traditional". Here are the brands and amounts of what we use of everything. We get them from Central Market, because it's cheaper than Uwajimayas... but 'Waji's has them. From CM all the ingredients together cost about $10 and they make the following recipe about 100x. And all the ingredients last for months. Sometimes I go through paste like nobody's business... sometimes the tub just sits in the fridge for a couple months. As long as it's in the sealed tub it lasts for freakin' ever.
- Ajinmoto Hon-Dashi (granules) 1 tsp : 2 cups water
OR - Mizkan "Bonito Flavored Soup Base" (comes in what looks like a gatorade bottle, liquid is almost black... keeps in the fridge for ages) They have a ratio on the back of base to water that I follow. This makes KILLER Udon, btw. Just heat up the base + water and add frozen udon noodles. Yum.
- Shirakiku Awase Miso ... about 1 TB per 2 cups (eyeball it till it's as cloudy as you like it)
- Wakame (darn, forgot we're out, just ask the store for a good one for miso and they'll find a thin one for you. I know what the package looks like but forget the brand. Trick... wakame is very salty. If instead of just adding it to the soup like the directions say, add a pinch to a small cup of water. Then fish them out and add to the miso soup).
- Tofu (we use whatever brand is on sale that is "Japanese" firm. "Japanese" is between silken and medium. If they are out of japanese tofu I use silken. Which is a little soft, but imho better soft than dense).
Add water to pot. Add Dashi. Bring to boil. Pull off of burner. Add miso paste. Stir. Add tofu, wakame, & green onion. Or... if you're like my son... skip the extras.