While writing my post on How to Host a Sushi Party, I surfed the blogs for a good 30 minutes looking for a great tutorial on how to make miso soup using instant dashi. Well, I couldn’t find one that I liked, and in that 30 minutes I could have made 30 gallons of miso soup and still photograph/write a tutorial. So thats just what I did. (the photography/writing thing, not the 30 gallons) I use instant Dashi – kind of like Japan’s version of chicken bouillon. If you didn’t have Dashi, you could use diluted chicken stock…but it just wouldn’t taste right. But hey, if you really wanted miso soup and thats all you had, go for it. Just make sure you dilute the chicken stock – 70% water, 30% stock…otherwise your miso soup will end up tasting like chicken soup. Or….instead of chicken stock – try a diluted seafood stock or vegetable stock. Both of those will work much better than chicken. Alright, back to the dashi. You could also make dashi from kombu and bonito flakes, but this recipe is the 10 minute miso soup, therefore instant dashi works just fine.

Instant dashi can also come in a convenient glass jar. This is dried seaweed. Just a tablespoon of the dried wakame will be enough for a pot of miso soup to feed 4. Soak this in a little water and watch it expand. There are many, many different kinds of seaweed, but this one is made especially for eating in miso soup. jiro dreams of sushi volkskrantLook at the package first. jiro sni o sushi onlineOf course, I can’t read Japanese, but the back of this package shows an illustration of miso soup and little arrows pointing to put the seaweed in the soup and a happy smiling face drinking the soup. sushi yoshi menu khobarTherefore it must mean seaweed fortified with Prozac.how to make yo sushi kaiso salad

This is the miso paste that I found in the refrigerated section of the Asian market. Many regular supermarkets have miso paste as well. I generally buy organic, but this is all I found last week. I like Shiro Miso the best – its lighter, sweeter, little less salty. suzumo sushi machine usaThe most important thing about making miso soup is that you never boil the miso paste. ichiban sushi menu repentignyOnly add miso after you’ve turned off the heat. So, if you are using anything that needs a little cooking time, just do that before you add the miso paste. The reason why you don’t boil the miso – is that it will become gritty if it’s overcooked. All you need to really do to the miso is dissolve it in the just-boiled-soup.Cut into little cubes. I’ve tried making my own tofu before.

Lots of work for very little tofu. I’d rather buy a block of the organic stuff. Prep Time: 5 minutes Cook Time: 5 minutes This miso soup recipe can be made in 10 minutes! Remember, you don't want to boil the miso paste -- add it at the end with the heat off to avoid a gritty texture. 1. Pour the water into a pot and bring to a boil. Add the instant dashi and whisk to dissolve. Turn the heat to medium-low and add the tofu. Drain the seaweed and add the seaweed to the pot. Simmer for 2 minutes. 2. In the meatime, Spoon the miso paste into a bowl. Ladle about 1/2 cup of the hot dashi broth into a bowl and whisk with chopsticks or a whisk to mix and melt the miso paste so that it becomes a smooth mixture. 3. Turn the heat off, add the miso paste to the pot and stir well. Taste the soup - if it needs more flavor, whisk in another tablespoon or two of miso paste. Top with green onions and serve immediately. posted in Fast Recipes, Gluten Free Adaptable, Healthy Recipes, Japanese Recipes, Recipes, Region Specific, Soups/Salads

Basa fish, Pangasius bocourti Basa fish in Vinh Long market, Vietnam Least Concern (IUCN 3.1)[1] The basa fish (Pangasius bocourti) is a species of catfish in the family Pangasiidae. Basa are native to the Mekong and Chao Phraya basins in Indochina.[2] These fish are important food fish with an international market. They are often labeled in North America and Australia as "basa fish", "swai",[3] or "bocourti".[4] In the UK all species of Pangasius may legally be described as "river cobbler", "cobbler", "basa", "pangasius", "panga", or any of these with the addition of "catfish".[5] In the rest of Europe, these fish are commonly marketed as "pangasius" or "panga".[6] Other related shark catfish may occasionally be incorrectly labeled as basa fish, including P. hypophthalmus (iridescent shark) and P. pangasius (yellowtail catfish). The body of a basa fish is stout and heavy. The rounded head is broader than it is long, with the blunt snout having a white band on its muzzle.

This species grows to a standard length of 120 centimetres (47 in). Basa fish feed on plants. They spawn at the onset of flood season and the young are first seen in June, averaging about 5 cm by mid-June. Basa fish is typically sold in cooking-ready frozen fillets In 2002, the United States accused Vietnam of dumping catfish, namely P. bocourti and P. hypophthalmus, on the American market, arguing that the Vietnamese importers, who are subsidized by Vietnam's government, constituted unfair competition.[8] With pressures from the U.S. catfish industry, the United States Congress passed a law in 2003 preventing the imported fish from being labelled as catfish, as well as imposing additional tariffs on the imported fish.[9] Under the U.S. Food and Drug Administration ruling, only species from the family Ictaluridae can be sold as true catfish.[3] As a result, the Vietnamese exporters of this fish now label their products sold in the U.S. as basa fish or bocourti. At the height of the "catfish war", U.S. catfish farmers and others were describing the imported catfish as an inferior product.

However, Mississippi State University researchers found imported basa were preferred three-to-one to US catfish in a small (58 testers) blind taste test. Basa has become common in the UK as "Vietnamese river cobbler", "river cobbler", or "basa". It is mainly sold by large supermarkets, in both fresh and frozen forms, as a more reasonably priced alternative to popular white fish such as cod or haddock. Young's uses it in some of its frozen fish products, under the name basa.[13] The import of basa is subject to the same stringent EU regulations as other food imports, as set out in the CBI pangasius product fact sheet [14] UK Trading Standards officers said that cobbler was being fraudulently sold as cod by some fish-and-chip retailers to take advantage of the much lower price of cobbler, which was about half that of cod. This practice was highlighted by the successful prosecution of two retailers, using DNA evidence, in 2009 and 2010.[16] Sometimes pangasius is described, legally, simply as "fish", as in "fish and chips".

Several environmental organizations concerned with marine ecosystems have raised concerns about basa. OceanWise, an environmental organization associated with the Vancouver Aquarium, has flagged farmed basa for its potential pollution of ecosystems and interference with wild species.[17] It writes, "Open cage farming in Southeast Asia is associated with disease transfer to wild basa. There are also concerns about feed quality, farm operating standards and the biological impact of using wild stock for culturing."[17] The Monterey Bay Aquarium, while having concerns, does not red-flag basa. Both groups cite USA farmed catfish as a more sustainable alternative. Tests by Asda and Tesco in the UK have found no trace of toxic contaminants.[18] Test from AQIS found trace levels of malachite green, but no other contaminants. One case has been reported of a person without a general fish allergy having an anaphylactic reaction to pangasius. ^ a b Froese, Rainer and Pauly, Daniel, eds. (2012).