I have a friend who’s a chef with great expertise in flavor theory. Together, we created five varieties of misomaru. Here are the results of our experiments. Each recipe makes 4 or 5 soup balls, again depending on how strong you like your soup.
Japanese Breakfast Misomaru
Ingredients
1/3 cup white miso
½ tsp – 1 tsp dashi powder, depending on the salt level of your miso
1 tsp finely chopped nori
Instant oats buzzed to a powder in a Cuisinart
Shards of brown sugar or candied ginger
Instructions
Mix miso, dashi powder and nori and form the paste into 1 ½ -inch balls. You can also get a uniform size and shape using a cookie scoop. Roll them in the pulverized instant oats and garnish with brown sugar or a shard of candied ginger.
To serve: Dissolve individual miso soup balls in 8 ounces hot water.
Summer Misomaru
Ingredients
1/3 cup white miso
½ tsp gochujang (Korean spicy fermented bean paste)
½ tsp dashi
1 Tbl crushed nori
Dried sweet corn, both whole kernels and some buzzed to a powder in the Cuisinart
Instructions
Mix miso, dashi powder, gochujang and nori and form the paste into 1 ½ -inch balls. You can also get a uniform size and shape using a cookie scoop. Roll them in crushed dried sweet corn and garnish with individual kernels.
To serve: Dissolve individual miso soup balls in 8 ounces hot water.
Ode to the Ocean Misomaru
Ingredients
1/2 cup white miso
¼ tsp dried celery powder
1 tsp dashi
½ Tbl finely chopped nori
Dry Shrimp
Optional: Spirulina Blue Green Algae Powder (Blue Magik brand dissolves best in the soup)
Instructions
Mix miso, dashi powder, celery powder and nori and form the paste into 1 ½-inch balls. You can also get a uniform size and shape using a cookie scoop. Garnish with individual dry shrimp. If using the spirulina powder, make a tiny indentation with your finger and fill with the algae powder. When you add hot water, your miso soup will turn blue green, just like the color of the ocean.
To serve: Dissolve individual miso soup balls in 8 ounces hot water. If using the spirulina powder, pour your hot water to the side of the miso ball, not on top, and then stir to dissolve.
Buddha’s Beef Broth Misomaru
Although this is a vegetarian broth, the combination of red miso and tangerine powder gives the soup a distinctly beefy flavor.
Ingredients
1/3 cup red miso
1 tsp dried tangerine powder
¼ tsp dashi powder
Sesame seeds, dried chive, rice cracker balls or spicy sesame furikake.
Instructions
Mix miso, dashi powder and tangerine powder and form the paste into 1-inch balls. You can also get a uniform size and shape using a cookie scoop. Garnish with sesame seeds, dried chive, arare rice cracker balls or spicy sesame furikake.
To serve: Dissolve individual miso soup balls in 8 ounces hot water.
Yayoi Kusama’s Lunch Boxe
Ingredients
1/3 cup white miso
1 tsp dashi
Black and white sesame seeds or black sesame and arare rice cracker balls
Instructions
Mix miso and dashi powder and form the paste into 1 ½-inch balls. You can also get a uniform size and shape using a cookie scoop. Mix together black and white sesame seeds or black sesame and arare rice crackers and roll the miso balls in the mixture to imitate the work of the artist Yayoi Kusama, the princess of polka dots.
To serve: Dissolve individual miso soup balls in 8 ounces hot water.
Love the look of these – so whimsical – and I bet the taste is even better!