This is one of my family’s favorite miso soup, which requires only 4 ingredients and 15 minutes. Well boiled Aubergine will deliciously melt in your mouth with rich flavour of red miso. It’s warming, healthy and perfect quick side for Japanese dishes.
Brief instructions and tips
1. Boil water in a saucepan.
It’s important to prepare boiling water for cooking aubergine at the start. If you boil aubergine from cold water, your miso soup gets purple by dissolving their color of the skin into the water.
2. Meanwhile heating the water, cut the aubergine and the silken tofu into bite sizes.
The size and shape of aubergine vary from country to country though, 1 aubergine should be enough for the 2 servings. I used 2/3 of a 20mm (8 inches) aubergine.
If you have some time before boiling the water, soak the sliced aubergines in plenty of water to remove the bitter taste. Make sure that you drain them before adding the pan.
3. Transfer the sliced aubergines in the boiling water and cook until the aubergines become fully translucent. You can cook faster with a lid.
4. Boil 1/2 cup water in an another pan or in a kettle. Pour boiled water into a small bowl and add the red miso. Whisk with a metal whisk until completely dissolved.
In my opinion, aubergine miso soup is best with red miso. But white miso is also a nice substitute depending on your taste. If you use Akadashi, which means red miso including Dashi (dried bonito powder), you don’t need to add Dashi. But if you use pure miso, it’s necessary to add Dashi powder at this step. Pure miso doesn’t include Dashi in the product name.
5. Fold the miso mixture into the pan with aubergines. Mix gently and bring to simmer.
After cooking aubergines, water evaporates a lot, so please adjust the saltiness by adding more water or miso to your taste before serving.
Enjoy!
This recipe is slightly adopted from Japanese recipe here.
If you like the combination of miso and aubergine, check out my miso glazed aubergine!
Aubergine (eggplant) Miso Soup
Ingredients
- 2/3 medium sized aubergine (eggplant)
- 1 1/2 tbsp Akadashi (red miso including Dashi) or Akamiso (pure red miso)
- 150 g Silken tofu
- sliced spring onions for topping
Optional ingredients
- 1 1/2 tsp Bonito Dashi powder If you use pure red miso, it's necessary to use.
- a few drops of roasted sesame oil
Instructions
- Boil 2 cups of water (500 ml) in a saucepan.
- Cut the aubergine into bite sized slices 5 mm (0.2 inches) thick. Then also cut the tofu into dices.
- Transfer the sliced aubergines in the boiling water and cook over the medium-high heat until the aubergines get fully translucent for about 10 minutes.
- Boil 1/2 cup (125 ml) of water in an another pan or in a kettle. Pour boiled water into a small bowl and add the red miso. Whisk with a metal whisk until completely dissolved. If you use pure miso, add the Dashi powder at this step.
- Fold the miso mixture into the pan with aubergines, then add the silken tofu and mix gently.
- Bring to simmer for a few minutes. Then taste it, adjust saltiness by adding miso or water to your taste if necessary.
- Serve in individual bowls and top with the sliced spring onions. Optionally drop a few roasted sesame oil.
