10-Minute Miso Soup

This is as fast as food gets! Award-winning cookbook author Hiroko Shimbo tells us how to make the easiest miso soup. “I want to have this soup right now!” she tells us.

Just have some dashi stock or high-quality (if not made-from-scratch) chicken stock on hand. Water as the soup base works, too, if you must, but Hiroko—ever the purist—says that that’s the “worst case” scenario.

Hiroko Shimbo’s 10-Minute Miso Soup
Makes 2 servings

• 1 teaspoon canola oil (preferably organic, non-GMO)
• 1/4 small red onion, sliced very thin
• 1/4 plus red chile flakes
• 1 cup thinly sliced kale leaves (if you choose to include the stem, make sure to slice it thinly so that it cooks evenly with the leaves)
• 3 cups dashi stock, chicken stock or water
• 1 1/2 to 2 tablespoons red or brown miso (Hiroko’s favorite is the artisanal Miso Master brand red miso—non-GMO and unpasteurized)

Heat the oil in a small pot. Add the onion and cook, stirring from time to time, for 30 seconds over medium heat. Add the chile flakes and cook 20 seconds. Add the kale and cook 30 seconds. Carefully add the stock and bring it to a simmer. Reduce the heat to medium-low and cook the soup for 2 minutes. Turn off the heat and add the miso. Stir the soup with a whisk to dissolve all miso. Serve the soup hot in a mug or small soup bowl.

For more from Hiroko Shimbo, pick up Hiroko’s American Kitchen: Cooking with American Flavors or go to hirokoskitchen.com.