Miso is a Japanese food made by fermenting a grain, usually soy, and then adding salt and a mold called kojikin. It is a thick paste that is especially popular as the basis for soup and is also used liberally in sauces and pickling.
Instructions
1. Use miso to make miso soup. Softened miso paste is mixed with a stock called "dashi." This combination is the defining characteristic of miso soup, with other ingredients forming the specific recipe.
2. Combine miso with other soups and soup-like dishes. These dishes includes many kinds of imoni, nabe, ramen and udon and may be generally recognized by having the term "miso" appended to the name, as in "miso-imoni."
3. Make many traditional confections with mochidango, a thick sweet miso glaze. They are especially popular during Japanese festivals but are available year-round.
4. Utilize a soy miso for pickling. Cucumber, daikon, eggplant and hakusai make a pickle called misozuke that is less salty and sweeter than a standard Japanese pickle. A miso made with barley, called nukamiso, is also used extensively in pickling, although it is quite different from misozuke.
5. Cook other miscellaneous foods with miso. This includes grilled tofu covered with miso (dengaku), grilled rice cakes with miso (yakimochi) and marinades made with miso and sake.
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