Rice Cooker Miso Soup

There are many varieties of miso. The most common are red miso (made from white rice, barley, or soybeans by natural fermentation) and white miso (made from a lot of rice and fewer soybeans). Any miso variety would work in this recipe.

Serves: 4

Hands-on: 5 minutes

Total: 12 minutes

Difficulty: Easy

Ingredients
4 cups water
½ package (10 oz.) soft tofu, cut into ½" cubes
1 cup baby spinach
2 Tbsp. miso
2 scallions, chopped

Directions

Step 1
Add the water to the rice cooker pot, cover, and set to Cook. When the water boils, add the tofu and simmer, covered for 3 minutes. Stir in spinach and simmer for 30 seconds.

Step 2
Ladle about 2 tablespoons soup liquid from the rice cooker into a small bowl. Add the miso to the bowl and stir to dissolve the miso; then stir the contents of the bowl back into the rice cooker pot, set it to Warm, and cover it. Let soup sit for about 5 minutes and garnish with green onions before serving.

*Basic miso recipe (makes 5kgs)

Special equipment needed:

Fermentation vessel (pottery, enamel, glass or food grade plastic).

Ingredients:
1.3 kg soy beans (or other legume)
1.8 kg koji
650 g salt
water

Steps:

1. Soak soybeans overnight before cooking. The heat source used for cooking will alter the flavour of the finished product as will the water source. In Japan it is believed that wood fires and spring water produce the best miso. Cook the beans until very soft. After cooking strain the soybeans and keep the water for later use.
2. Mash the cooked soybeans and place in a large mixing bowl.
3. Mix koji with 50 grams salt.
4. Mix koji through mashed soybeans.
5. Water left over from cooking the soybeans is now slowly added to the soybean/koji mixture to achieve a good consistency. The consistency is tested by forming the mixture into a ball and throwing it against a hard surface. If the ball cracks up or crumbles the mixture is too dry, if it splatters everywhere it is too wet. After achieving the correct consistency all of the mixture is rolled into balls.
6. The fermentation vessel should be cleaned with white alcohol or strong antiseptic herbal tea.
7. Throw the balls into the pot. The aim here is to remove any air pockets within the pot. When all the mixture is in the pot press to form a flat surface.
8. The remaining salt (600 grams) is now sprinkled over the surface, especially around the edges as this is where uninvited molds will first make their appearance.
9. Cover with bamboo leaves or cling film – again taking care to cover the surface right up to the edges – to help prevent molds from forming.
10. Wait. The miso can be eaten after six months (if made during the warmer months) but it will be better if left for longer. Often it is left to ferment for one, two or even three years before consumption. As with most fermentation processes temperature is an important factor. Starting your miso in autumn it will likely need more than six months before consumption. During warmer times of the year the fermentation will be faster but so will the chances of competing molds moving in. Check your fermentation vessel regularly and remove any molds appearing on the surface. Even if a layer of mold covers the entire surface the miso below should be fine. Just scrape off the surface to a sufficient depth where only mold free miso can be seen.