Okra & Tomato Miso Soup
A flavourful soup for the summer peak season, and to ease into early autumn
This has been one of my favourite miso soups throughout the last two summers. Here in Kyoto, we can still get some good in-season okra in early autumn too. It has an interesting acidity and sweetness with a texture that, to me, is more towards the medium coating. It is quite refreshing, while slightly warming you up too. It tastes great both hot and cold, although I do not know why you would eat such an amazing soup cold! Sorry, not a huge fan of cold food here, but I have to say this one works quite well.
- Serves: 3
- Prep Time: 30 min
- Cook Time: 10 min
Fixings:
- 6 Okra
- 1 Tomato (Bigger size is better)
- 700ml Konbu Dashi (I use 20g of Konbu for 1 litre of water)
- 3 Tbsp soy bean miso paste
Directions:
- Rub the okra with salt on the exterior, let it sit for 5-10 minutes.
- Flash boil the tomato to remove the skin of it. Put in cold water to cool down after boiling.
- Lightly boil the okra until it changes colour from a brighter green to a slightly less bright. Put in cold water to cool down after boiling.
- Cut the tomato and okra into bite sized pieces.
- Warm the dashi without boiling, then add the miso and mix well.
a. Taking out a bit of the broth and mixing the miso in a separate bowl, then returning it to the pot, can make it easier.
- Add the tomato and okra and serve or cool down to eat cold
Make it yours, make it fun:
Switch the konbu dashi to your preferred stock. Like katsuobushi, shiitake, triple seaweed or other!
Do you like me wonder why we salt the okra at the beggining, try not doing it and see the difference. Some people prefer it, some people don’t. To some it doesn’t matter…
Switch up the miso to a white or darker one that uses a different base. I like to switch it up to white miso sometimes. I have a bit of a sweet savoury tooth.
Don’t have a big tomato? Canned whole tomatoes to the rescue! Top it off with sesame oil and sesame seeds. Or try sprinkling some aonori seaweed on top.