Name: Weeknight Miso Soup with Tofu for One
Total time: 15 min
Ingredients: 2 cups chicken or vegetable broth; 1 cup water; 2 tablespoons white miso; 7 ounces silken, soft, or firm tofu , cut into ½-inch pieces; 2 scallions , green parts only, sliced thin; 1 sheet toasted nori , crumbled

Why This Recipe Works

Miso soup is a nutritious, deeply flavored Japanese soup that is not only the perfect start to a meal, but also a great base for almost any veggies you may have in your crisper drawer. It's also a wonderful medium for poaching fish or shellfish. Miso soup is traditionally made by stirring tangy, nutty, fermented miso paste into dashi, the mother stock of Japanese cuisine, which is traditionally made by cooking katsuobushi (smoked, dried, fermented tuna flakes) and kombu (dried kelp) in water. For a shortcut to a weeknight miso soup, we replaced the dashi with pantry-friendly chicken or vegetable broth, which still allowed the miso to shine and got our soup on the table in just 15 minutes. To make it a meal, we bulked up our soup in the traditional manner, with cubes of tofu (we prefer silken, but soft or firm tofu will also work), and finished with aromatic sliced scallions and briny crumbled toasted nori.

Before You Begin

If you plan to store and reheat a portion of this soup, store the scallions and nori separately; sprinkle them over the soup after reheating.

Instructions

Bring broth and water to simmer in medium saucepan. Off heat, whisk in miso then stir in tofu. Sprinkle with scallions and nori and season with salt and pepper to taste. Serve. (Soup can be refrigerated for up to 3 days.)