Difficulty Level Easy

My husband loves a cup of miso soup on a cool afternoon. He is devoted to those packets that have miso powder, dehydrated tofu and onions that you make in a cup with boiling water. You wait a minute, give it a stir and voila! You have a hot, salty beverage with spongy little tofu cubes, in individual packets that cost a fortune and came all the way from Japan. He's a very green guy, and I guess he feels this not very green product is one little indulgence. I told him I could make miso soup for him, but he gave me a baleful look that I thought only our daughter could produce. Clearly it's just not the same thing at all.

So last weekend when we were at the Vegetarian Food Fair in Toronto we came across a couple who make their own miso paste locally. They had two big pots of miso soup for tasting, a light and a dark version. When my husband tasted his sample his eyes lit up. We had found a miso that could compete with his Japanese packets. Now he just puts a spoonful in a cup of boiling water to give him a little boost in the middle of the afternoon. Now if only I could learn how dehydrate some tofu so he could have those weird little cubes floating in his cup, his happiness would be complete.

Earlier this year I gave readers a miso soup recipe with seaweed in it. This is even simpler and it takes about five minutes to make. You can get different types of miso with different intensities of flavour and saltiness. Start with a small amount of miso and keep tasting until you find the right balance for your liking.

INGREDIENTS