1)      Wasabi Dip – A firey alternative to mayonnaise that goes great with fish!

All you need is:

• 3tbsp mayonnaise
• 1tbsp wasabi
• 1 tbsp soy sauce

Simply mix these 3 ingredients together until the wasabi paste is well blended and the mayonnaise has taken a light green colour. Try this as a dip for wedges and chips or serve with white fish or fish cakes as a tartar sauce alternative.

2)      Soy Sauce Dressing – A simple way to enjoy classic Japanese flavours        

All you need is:

• 2tbsp rice vinegar
• 2tbsp soy sauce
• 2tbsp vegetable oil
• Sesame seeds (optional)

Mix equal amounts of the three ingredients together, adding sesame seeds if desired. Once mixed serve drizzled over simple green salad to give it that extra umph!

Top tip: Try adding different ingredients such as Yuzu, grated daikon or bonito flakes

3)      Onion Salad Dressing – The intense aroma of marinated onion really does compliment your salad        

All you need is:

• 1 onion
• 100ml rice vinegar
• 100ml vegetable oil
• 50ml mirin
• 50ml soy sauce
• 1 ½ tbsp sugar
• 1tbsp salt

Thinly slice the onion and leave for 15 minutes, once the onions are dry place the onion and the other ingredients in a sealable container, mix well and leave them in the fridge overnight to marinate. Shake the container well and serve over any salad. The dressing will keep for several days if refrigerated.

So forget the ketchup, bin the bbq and hold back on the salad cream, these 3 tasty dips and dressings are tastier and healthier!

Pictures provided by

 Felipe Neves (Flickr)

Hirefrank (Flickr)

In this issue I’m going to focus on Mirin, most of you may have heard and used Mirin in your dishes before but despite the fact that it is one of the most important ingredients in Japanese cuisine it is also one of the least understood outside of Japan itself.

Mirin is often described as a kind of sweet cooking sake, this is significantly wrong. Although it is alcoholic and made form rice and ‘Kojikin*’ mould, it differs notably from sake and it is important that you do not substitute one for the other.

Mirin is made using ‘Mochigome*’ which is steamed before being mixed with the ‘Kojikin*’ mould and the Japanese spirit ‘Shochu*’, which itself can be made from rice, grain or potatoes. When mixed together, the enzymes in the ‘Kojikin*’ convert the starch into sugars while proteins are broken down into their constituent amino acids.  The mixture is then left for up to sixty days, by this time it should have become sweet and syrupy. So there you have it, the traditional way of making ‘Real Mirin’. But what next?

 Well, Mirin has a number of uses and is an essential part of the character and flavour of Japanese cuisine. It is mainly used to add sweetness to a dish but thanks to the presence of amino acid it also adds ‘Umami’ the fifth taste, this can often be translated into savouriness and it can also bring out and enhance the taste of other ingredients. Good quality ‘hon mirin’ is also enjoyed as a drink (due to the alcohol content), most famously in the new year drink ‘o-toso’ when I is infused with a number of herbs with health giving properties.

 So there we have it a basic background about Mirin, maybe you should give it a try. 

 Some words you might not have understood*:

 ‘Kojikin’ – a filamentous fungus (a mold). It is used in Chinese and Japanese cuisine to ferment soybeans. It is also used to saccharify rice, other grains, and potatoes in the making of alcoholic beverages such as huangjiu, sake, makgeolli and shōchū.

 Mochigome – In Japan, glutinous rice is known as mochigome

 Shochu – a Japanese distilled beverage

Find a great selection of Mirin our website now!

Article by Miso Meg

Photo by kattebelletje

So lets get started, the miso that I’m going to explain how to make today is the most basic form of miso soup which I thought would be ideal for a first attempt. However if you want to add any additional garnishes then feel free, popular garnishes for miso soup are; Tofu cubes, wakame, or even nameko mushrooms. If you prefer a more substantial soup I would recommend packing it full of vegetables! You could add carrots, potato, cabbage, literally any seasonal vegetable of your choice and allow them to simmer until tender, each ingredient will add a new layer of flavour.

The whole aim of this soup is for it to be flavoursome but light and healthy at the same time, it is a firm favourite in Japan and I’m sure once you have made your own you will see why!

Ingredients:

• 1 Litre of Niban Dashi (see part 2 of Miso Megs Dashi Masterclass)
• 3 tablespoons of Shiro Miso (also known as white miso or light miso)
• 2-3 Tablespoons of aka Miso (aka means red in Japanese)
• 2 Spring onions (use the green part only and chop finely), this is optional
• Tablespoon of dried wakame
• 350g of firm tofu

Method

1. Firstly, take your dashi and place it in a saucepan over  medium-high heat and bring it almost (but not quite!) to the boil, then combine a little bit of the dashi with the miso in a small cup or bowl and whisk it until it is smooth.
2. When the miso and liquid combination is smooth you need to stir the mixture into the pan and allow to come to a simmer.
3. Add optional veg here and simmer through
4. Add wakame and tofu.
5. When the mixture has simmered for 2 mins you should ladle the soup into small bowls and serve sprinkled with the spring onion, if desired.

It really is as simple as that, if you are new to miso there are a variety of misos you can buy to see which one suits your tastes, most popular are Shiro (Basic white Miso) and Aka (Red Miso) but there are many more. Try experimenting with different misos and blends of them to fine tune to your taste.

There are also a variety of instant miso soups in our online shop if you dont want to make your own or if you just want to take your miso to work as a snack. Now go get mad for miso!

Article By Miso Meg

Image by Peter Jan Haas

Find these ingredients in our shop:

Shiro Miso Paste
Aka Miso Paste
Dried Wakame
Firm Tofu
Instant Dashi 
Bonito Flakes
Kombu
Instant Miso Soup