In Search of Two Recipes...

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.

http://www.ifood.tv/recipe/dal_makhani

http://www.hookedonheat.com/2007/11/14/recreating-perfect...
these two have good reviews

this is a good one for the miso soup, it's always good to glance through the reviews to see if a majority of the people would change something, then make alterations based on the popular critiques:
http://allrecipes.com//Recipe/miso-soup/Detail.aspx

For miso soup you can actually buy dashi miso (miso that already contains the soup base) and you just dissolve that in hot water and add tofu and seaweed. I have made miso soup completely from scratch before and we have it out often and I find using the dashi miso for homemade soup is the best "bang for your buck" in terms of convenience vs. taste.

Here's my miso recipe. I don't know that I've ever had it at a restaurant, but the people that I've given it to have had rave reviews.

Miso soup
12 cups water
1 sheet toasted nori
6 green onions
1 block silken firm tofu cut into 1” cubes
4 cloves garlic
2 teaspoons toasted sesame oil
1.5 teaspoon soy sauce
4 shitake mushrooms
1 small-ish oyster mushroom
6 crimini mushrooms
12 oz udon noodles (this is generally 2 packages that are each 6oz)
1 cup red miso

Bring water to a boil and add nori. Let it boil for 5+ minutes (longer reduces the salty/oceanic flavor). Add everything else except noodles and miso. Low boil for a few minutes. Turn off heat, add miso and noodles. Stir gently to dissolve miso. Serve hot. Makes about 14 cups.

I like to put it in the blender so it's smooth like miso should be. I add the noodles so it's a full meal for my family, but you could leave them out just as well. I also make a double batch and freeze it. Don't freeze unblended noodles though. They get gooey. Also, use caution to avoid boiling when you reheat. Boiling changes the flavor of the miso quite a bit.