Miso Soup

Ingredients

• 1/2 ozkombu, wiped, not washed; lifted out and discarded after steeping
• 1/2 ozdried shiitake mushrooms, lifted out and discarded after steeping
• 10 1/2 ozsilken tofu, cut into small cubes
• 1/4 ozdried wakame
• 2 ozwhite miso paste
• 2spring onions, sliced on the diagonal

Method

1. 1

   Put the kombu and dried shiitake in a pan with cold water and leave them to soak while you prepare everything else. Wipe the kombu with a dry cloth rather than rinsing it — the white bloom on the surface is flavour.

2. 2

   Heat the pan slowly and lift out the kombu the moment small bubbles start to climb its edges, before the water reaches a boil. Let the shiitake carry on for a few more minutes, then take them out too.

3. 3

   Slide in the cubed tofu and the dried wakame and let them warm through at a bare simmer. The wakame will swell to several times its size.

4. 4

   Take the pan off the heat. Put the miso in a ladle, dip the ladle into the broth and whisk with chopsticks until the paste has dissolved, then stir it through.

5. 5

   Divide between warmed bowls and scatter the sliced spring onion over the top.