Miso, wakame, and roasted red peppers transform the salmon head stock into something divine. Add the flaked salmon, and the carrot and daikon waffles, which act like dumplings, and you have a salmon miso soup as nutritious as it is delicious.
The stock base is so important to this dish. Normally a miso soup is made using a dashi base, as with this Red Miso Soup or this salmon poached in miso dashi. This soup though uses a salmon head stock as the soup base. This style has more similarities to miso ramen dishes that traditional miso soup.
Unlike the red miso soup linked above, this salmon miso soup uses white miso. It has a milder and sweeter flavour, perfect complement to the salmon. Great article here on different types of miso.
Put some time into creating the salmon head stock. Store bought alternatives just won’t be the same. Make double the quantity and freeze half for next time. Update: added a post just on making salmon head stock.
The carrot daikon waffles added to the flavour and texture of this dish, acting a little like dumplings. However, the salmon miso soup itself is strong enough to stand on its own. Skip the waffles if you must, or serve with soba noodles.
Salmon miso soup. Carrot and daikon waffles.
Ingredients
For the salmon head stock…
- 500 g salmon bones including head (gills removed), rinsed
- 2 litres water
- 2 leeks
- 2 onions
- 2 carrots
- 4 cloves garlic
- 3 stalks celery
- 2 leaves bay
- 2 star anise
- 1 Tbsp black peppercorns
- 1/4 teaspoon fennel seeds
- 10 g butter
- 1 Tbsp olive oil
For the waffles…
- 2 medium carrots
- 2 medium daikon white radish
- 1 onion
- 1 large zucchini or 2 medium
- 1 cup flour
- 1 tsp baking powder
- 1/2 cup of milk
- 2 eggs
- 1/4 tsp salt
For the miso soup…
- 400 g salmon fillets skin on
- 2 red peppers
- 1 onion
- 1 large mild chilli
- 3 cloves garlic
- 10 g butter
- 3 Tbsp white miso
- 10 pieces of wakame
Instructions
To prepare the salmon head stock…
- Clean and roughly chop the leeks, onion, carrot, garlic, and celery stalks.
- In a large saucepan, melt the butter and add the olive oil.
- Saute the chopped vegetables until fragrant, about 10 minutes.
- Add the water, salmon head and bones, bay leaves, peppercorns, fennel seeds, and star anise.
- Bring to the boil, then reduce to a simmer.
- Simmer for 1 hour.
- Strain the stock, discarding the vegetables and salmon bones.
To prepare the waffles…
- Peel and grate the carrots and daikon.
- Grate the zucchini.
- Put the grated carrots, daikon, and zucchini into a colander, sprinkle with a tsp salt, and allow to drain for 30 minutes.
- Whisk the eggs, flour, and baking powder, slowly adding the milk, and set aside in the refrigerator for 20 minutes or so. Should be a thick batter consistency.
- Finely dice the onion.
- Squeeze any remaining moisture out of the grated zucchini, carrot, and daikon.
- In a large bowl, gently combine grated vegetables, onion, egg mixture, and salt.
- Use a waffle maker to make the waffles.
- Keep in the oven until ready.
To prepare the miso salmon soup…
- Clean, trim, and roast the red peppers at 200 degC for 45 minutes.
- Allow to cool a bit then dice into 5×5 cm pieces.
- Finely chop the onion, chilli, and garlic.
- Saute the onion, chilli, and garlic in butter in a high sided frying pan or wok until just starting to brown.
- Add miso and simmer for a few minutes.
- Add 1.5 litres of salmon head stock and bring to a boil.
- Add the salmon fillets, skin side down. Bring back to a boil, then reduce to a simmer.
- Simmer the salmon 5 to 10 minutes, depending on thickness.
To serve…
- Remove the salmon from the soup.
- Add the diced red pepper and the wakame to the soup. Simmer gently. Adjust seasoning if necessary.
- Remove the skin from the salmon then break up the salmon. It should flake easily.
- Halve a waffle, then place the halves vertically in the middle of a wide soup bowl. Place flaked salmon pieces on top of the waffles.
- Saddle soup into the bowl and garnish with dill or umibudou (sea grapes)
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