Simple Fish Soup Recipe: Salmon Tofu Miso Soup
Simple fish soup recipe series 1: salmon tofu miso soup
Are you tired of raw salmon or pan-fried salmon? Are you looking for new ideas for cooking salmon? Want a new high-protein quick meal idea after a workout? Check out this simple fish soup recipe: salmon tofu miso soup!
Miso soup has been one of my favourite soups since I was a kid. While the most common ingredient in the miso soup is tofu, I love miso soup with salmon. Salmon is a perfect flavor match for miso. Adding salmon to miso tofu soup enhances the provids an extra layer of richness to the soup compared with normal tofu miso soup.
If you do not like salmon, I recommend using barramundi instead because it has a milder smell and will be a perfect match with miso soup as well. I still remember clearly the very first time my mom cooked a miso soup with white fish (I was too young to know what kind, just that it was white fish). The fish flavour took the miso soup to another level. After I came to Australia, I noticed salmon is popular here, so I came up with a few tips for making this simple fish soup using salmon. It’s an easy recipe with a surprisingly complex flavour.
In Sydney, this simple fish soup is not common in Japanese restaurants. I think it is because salmon can be a pricy ingredient for a business. However, I highly recommend you try this salmon tofu miso soup. I am confident that it will become your regular high-protein soup option!
Simple Fish Soup Recipe: Salmon Tofu Miso Soup
Difficulty: simple
Health features: high-protein, gluten-free
Time: 30 minutes
Serve: 4-5 people
Ingredients
Salmon: 300g (if you do not like Salmon, you can use barramundi)
Firm Tofu: 440g
White Miso: 40g
Onion: 1 medium or half big onion
Mirin: 1 tsp (alternative: cooking rice wine/white grape wine + sugar)
Spring onion: 25g (optional)
Shaved bonito: 3g (adjust as personal preference)
Oil: 1.5 tsp
Water: 900ml -1L (800ml-900ml for soup, 100ml for miso mix)
Tips for choosing ingredients
Miso: There are different types of miso (as shown in the pictures below). In Australia, you can usually find the following types of miso in Tongli or other Asian supermarkets:
Shiro/white miso: The white miso paste’s colour is lighter. It tastes a bit sweet and less salty, and it is suitable for cooking miso soup.
Aka/red miso: the red miso paste has a darker colour. It has a stronger and saltier flavour than white miso. It is suitable for stew, marination and dishes with stronger taste.
Dashi (iri) miso: it’s not a separate type of miso but rather a variation that includes dashi for extra flavour. I use this kind of miso in this recipe, as shown in the pictures above. The one I use is the white miso with additional shaved bonito flavour for a richer taste. If you can’t find the same miso, regular white miso will work, as I also add shaved bonito in the recipe.
Mix miso: it is a mix of white and red miso. I will recommend you to buy both white and red misos and create your own mix miso at home.
Salmon (or barramundi): Both fresh and frozen salmon work well for this soup. I recommend using skinless salmon because it has less fat, but this is a personal preference. You can use skin-on salmon if you prefer it over a skinless one. If you do not like salmon, you can use barramundi. Although the flavour of the soup will be a bit different, barramundi is also a perfect match with miso soup. I also recommend using skinless barramundi.
Tofu: There are different types of tofu. In Australia, you can find extra firm, firm, and soft tofu in Asian supermarkets, Coles, or Woolworths. I recommend extra firm or firm tofu because it won’t break easily when cooking the soup. Also, extra firm or firm tofu usually contains more protein. I do not recommend soft tofu, as it is very delicate and can easily break apart, even with a gentle stir from a ladle (i.e., a big soup spoon).
Mirin: Mirin is a common cooking seasoning for Taiwanese or Japanese cuisines. If you do not have mirin at home, you can replace it with the same amount of cooking rice wine or white grape wine and a little bit of sugar. About how much sugar you should add to the miso soup, I recommend adding a teaspoon to the soup first and you taste it to check whether you would like to add more.
Step-by-step guidance
1. Cut onion in half and slice it into thinner slices. Cut the spring onions into small pieces.
Thinner onion slices soften and turn transparent more quickly when you stir fry them.
2. Cut tofu into small cubes, about 1 cm on each side.
Cutting tofu to this size has three benefits:
First, it is easy to eat with the soup.
Second, it will not be too small and break easily when you stir the soup with a ladle.
Thirdly, cooking firm or extra-firm tofu for over 20 minutes creates tiny holes in the tofu, enhancing its flavour. Cutting the tofu into larger pieces would take longer to achieve this effect.
3. Place the pot on the stove and add 5ml of oil. Heat it on a medium to high flame.
If you use a stainless steel pot, you can refer to my post about Say Goodbye to Sticking Stainless Steel Pans with Easy Tips.
4. After heating your pot, add the onion and stir-fry it. When the onions become soft and transparent and brown fonds form at the bottom of the pot, remove them and put them in a separate bowl.
This step will take 10-15 minutes or more. Stir-fry it on a medium flame to avoid burning the onions.
You will see the bottom of your pot turn brown. No worries! This is what we are looking for. It is the tasty substance from the Maillard reaction. These brown fonds will add depth of flavour to this miso soup.
5. Add another 0.5-1 teaspoon of oil and use a medium flame to pan-fry the salmon in the same pot. When both sides of the salmon are cooked, cut them into smaller pieces with your stir stick.
Don’t move the salmon when putting it in the same pot for around 2 minutes. Check from one side of the salmon and flap it to another side when you see that 2/1 of the salmon is cooked (i.e., turning pink). Again, the browning salmon from the Millard reaction creates complex flavours and aromas, making the salmon taste richer.
After frying the other side for around 30 seconds, you can use a stir stick to cut the salmon into smaller pieces. I recommend cutting it into medium-sized pieces so you can feel the bite of the salmon when you have this salmon tofu miso soup.
If your pot is too hot, turn off the flame for 30 seconds to 1 minute. This tip is helpful, especially if you use a stainless steel pot.
It is unnecessary to cook salmon thoroughly because you will continue to boil it in the water. The reason to pan-fire the salmon first instead of directly boiling it in the water is to create browned fonds from the Millard reaction and to enhance the soup's flavour overall.
6. Add tofu cubes, stir-fired onions and 800ml water into the pot.
Make sure the water covers almost all ingredients as shown in the picture.
7. Boil the water on high heat. After it boils, turn the heat to a medium to small flame and cook for another 20 minutes.
While waiting, mix white miso paste and 100ml together to make miso mix. Keep stirring until all the miso is dissolved.
If you do not dissolve miso with a small amount of water beforehand, it will be hard and take longer to dissolve in the big soup pot. Moreover, you may break a lot of salmon and tofu pieces if you keep stirring the soup.
Stir the soup gently from time to time to prevent the ingredients from burning. Also, add a little more water as needed to keep the ingredients mostly submerged.
8. After 20 minutes, add the miso water mix, mirin, small spring onion pieces and shaved bonito to the soup. Cook on medium heat until it boils again. After the soup is boiled, cook for another 5 minutes.
After 20 minutes, you will notice small holes forming inside the tofu, which improves its texture.
After you add miso mix, mirin, spring onion pieces, and shaved bonito, carefully stir the soup with a ladle. Taste the soup to adjust the flavour according to the personal preference:
- if it is too salty or sweet, add more water.
- if it is too plain, you can add more miso. Make sure you dissolve miso with a small amount of water before you add more miso to the soup.
The shaved bonito is one of the key flavours of this miso soup. You can add more if you like shaved bonito. Nevertheless, if you do not like shaved bonito, you can skip this ingredient.
I like the softer smell of spring onion, so I add it to the soup in this step. However, if you prefer a stronger smell of spring onion, you can add them before you serve the soup.
9. Ready to serve! There are three ways to enjoy this high-protein salmon miso tofu soup:
Enjoy it as is!
Add rice to the soup—this has been my favourite combination since childhood.
Add extra-thin noodles to the soup. This idea came from a friend of mine. She loves it!
I hope you enjoy this healthy salmon and tofu miso soup. It is a great source of protein after your workout. Feel free to leave a comment and share your thoughts. I would love to hear how you enjoyed the soup!