pumpkin miso soup

I made this soup the other day to use up some squash I had languishing in my refrigerator, and it turned out really well. It seemed more coherent than most soups I invent, with less of a thrown-together quality.



Pumpkin Miso Soup
3" piece of kombu, soaked in a quart of water while you prepare the other ingredients
1lb kabocha squash, peeled, seeded and cut into chunks
1lb firmish tofu, cut into cubes
4oz shiitakes (I would have used more, but that's all I had), thickly sliced
1 1/2 length of ginger, peeled and cut into matchsticks
2T caramelized onions (or just slice an onion and fry it till it's golden)
2 big green onions, or more smaller ones, cut into 2" long slivers*
1T each dark and light miso (I used Hatcho and shiro miso)

Bring the soaking water and the kombu to a simmer, then pluck out the kombu and cut it up into little strips to match your green onion slivers. Add the squash, tofu, shiitakes, ginger, and onion to the soaking water and cook on medium heat till the squash is tender, seven to ten minutes. Add the green onions and kombu, cook another minute or so, then take off of the heat. Add the miso to the soup either by pressing it through a misokoshi** or by whisking it in a little bowl with some of the broth then adding it back to the soup.

* I have a special green onion shredding device I got at Daiso. Without one of these, I think cutting green onions into little threads is more trouble than it's worth, so if you don't have one just slice them thinly on the diagonal.



** A misokoshi is a special deep sieve that you hold into the soup and press the miso through.