Apolinaras and I ventured back to HMart on Super Bowl Sunday and enjoyed big bowls of udon soup for lunch from the Japanese section of food court. We always go back and forth on what to order because everything looks so tasty, but I think we made a good choice, because the soup was just delicious and packed with thin slices of tofu, seaweed, green onions, and broccoli– so good! We’d also never had udon noodles before and had a great time slurping them up. In fact, we enjoyed it so much, that I immediately got out my shopping list and jotted down all the ingredients I could identify in the soup so I could attempt to recreate it at home.
Look at all the goodies I scooped up that I’ve never bought before – frozen udon noodles, fried tofu, dried seaweed, and dashi miso (from what I can tell, this type of miso has bonito extract in it, which is commonly used to flavor Japanese soup stocks). I also got a huge package of dried shitake mushrooms, because I thought they would add a great extra layer of flavor, and I couldn’t resist buying them because where else can you can get so many dried mushrooms for just $3?
I was super happy with how my soup came out. I cooked the udon noodles according to the package directions and added them to a pot with the rehydrated shitake mushrooms and mushroom stock, chicken broth, seaweed, broccoli, and tofu. Then I added the miso and green onions after reducing the heat. I like to mix miso with a couple cups of broth in a small bowl to make sure the miso fully dissolves, before adding it to the stock pot, otherwise big chunks of it end up floating around. This meal came together really quickly and I’m very happy that I still have enough of all the ingredients to make it again soon – yay for HMart!
p.s. Congrats to Monica, who won my Guylian Artisanal Belgian Chocolates giveaway!
Udon Miso Soup
Printable Recipe
Ingredients:
2 9-ounce packages frozen udon noodles
3 ounces dried sliced shitake mushrooms
3 cups boiling water
12 cups low sodium chicken broth
0.3 ounces dried seaweed, cut into strips
4 cups broccoli florets (I used 12 ounces of frozen florets)
9 ounces fried tofu (called soy cutlets), cut into long thin strips
1/2 cup dashi miso paste with bonito extract
5 green onions, thinly sliced
Directions:
Prepare udon noodles according to the package directions, drain, and rinse well with cold water.
Place mushrooms and boiling water in a medium bowl and stir well; let sit for 30 minutes or until mushrooms are rehydrated. Place mushrooms and mushroom stock, chicken broth, seaweed, broccoli florets, and tofu in a large stockpot and bring to a boil. Reduce heat to low and place 2 cups of broth in a medium bowl. Stir in miso and return to stockpot; stir well (make sure the miso doesn’t boil or you will kill the flavor!). Stir in noodles and green onions and serve. Makes 6 servings.
Nutrition: 444 calories, 10.8g fat, 4.8g fiber, 18.8g protein per serving
Cost: $1.98 per serving