15-minute (Frozen) Mushroom Miso Soup
In this assorted mushroom miso soup, all the mushrooms used are frozen ones. To be specific, they were bought fresh and frozen at their prime, on the same day that I got them from the supermarket. You can use fresh mushrooms for this soup, but the (belated) life-changing discovery for me is that using frozen mushrooms will not compromise the quality at all. That’s a huge convenience for me!
See Also:
I started experimenting with frozen mushrooms because I have been working from home almost full time this year. The last two months in particular, I often have to prepare lunch for one. It’s a big challenge to have variety in a bowl when cooking for 1 or 2. After reading that mushrooms generally freeze well, I decided to experiment with various mushrooms. The four types of mushrooms (maitake, shimeji, shiitake & king oyster) in this recipe have been tried-and-tested & my family absolutely can’t tell the difference both in taste & texture between using fresh mushrooms and frozen ones.
STEP-BY-STEP PHOTOS
In this recipe you can use fresh mushrooms as shown above, OR …
… freeze the cut mushrooms (spread out) in a food ziplock bag. I call this the ‘anytime mushroom miso soup pack”. OR …
… make bags of assorted mushroom and freeze them. Take out the required amount of each type of mushroom you need to make a certain dish. This is the method I use most frequently.
MAKING THE MISO SOUP
Note: You can use fresh mushrooms instead of frozen ones.
This is my plate of frozen mushrooms for this recipe. You can use the mushrooms right out of the ziplock bag. I’m putting them on a plate to show you what the frozen mushrooms look like.
Heat up a mix of sesame oil & cooking oil in a pot to fry the mushrooms.
Add the frozen mushrooms without thawing them. You will see some ‘smoke’ because of the cold mushrooms touching the hot oil.
Fry the mushrooms until they are soft and moist.
Add thinly sliced daikon & zucchini, tofu puffs and thin slices of konyakku (optional). The konyakku (konjac) is a low-calorie food which adds fullness for those eating low-carb. I add some to my soup as I have leftovers to clear.
Add water and dashi powder. When the soup comes to a boil, cover with a lid and simmer the contents for 3 minutes.
Ladle some hot soup in a bowl and whisk to dissolve the miso paste in it. Alternatively, you can dissolve the miso paste directly in the pot on very low heat using a miso strainer.
Pour the miso solution back to the pot and the miso soup is done!
The cooked mushrooms are delicious. I can’t tell the difference between using fresh or frozen mushrooms.
The zucchini and daikon, being thinly sliced, are cooked within the short duration.
This was my solo (relatively) low-carb lunch. I ate the mushrooms miso soup with a salad, somen noodles and a hot tea.
10-minute (Frozen) Mushrooms Miso Soup Recipe
This recipe works with both fresh and frozen mushrooms. The mushrooms featured in this recipe had been tried-and-tested to freeze well – there is no difference in the cooked texture & taste between cooking them fresh or from the frozen state.
This is a recipe for 1 person, feel free to multiply the ingredients accordingly for more servings.
Check out the step-by-step photos on the previous page.
Ingredients:
(A) Frozen Mushroom Pack for one pax
(about 70g net weight after prep)
- 30g maitake mushroom ends trimmed
- 30g hon shimeji mushroom ends trimmed
- half king oyster mushroom sliced thinly
- 1 shiitake mushroom cap sliced thinly
Other Ingredients
- 1 tsp sesame oil
- 1 tsp cooking oil
- 400ml water
- 1 tsp dashi powder
- 3 thin slices zucchini cut to quarter moons
- 3 thin slices daikon cut to quarter moons
- 1 tofu puff sliced thinly
- a few thin slices konnyaku (konjac) optional
- 1 tbsp red miso paste see cooking note below
You also need
- food-grade ziplock bag
Directions:
- Prepare frozen mushroom pack in advance by putting the mushrooms at (A) spread out on a flat layer in a ziplock bag. You can keep this mushroom pack for up to 2 weeks in the freezer. You can also prepare freezer bags of the different mushrooms, then measure and take them out individually for cooking.
- Fry the frozen mushrooms (do not thaw). Heat sesame & cooking oil in a wokpan. Gently loosen the mushrooms while they are still in the ziplock bag. Then empty the contents onto the wokpan. Pan fry the mushrooms until they start to moisten and soften.
- Add vegetables & simmer. Add water, dashi powder, zucchini, daikon, tofu puff and konnyaku (if using). When the soup boils, cover with lid and simmer for 3 minutes.
- Dissolve miso paste. Turn off the stove. While the soup is piping hot, dissolve miso paste through a miso strainer. Alternatively, ladle hot soup to the miso paste in a small bowl, whisk to dissolve the miso, then pour the liquid back to the pot. Garnish with spring onions.
- This is a block of konnyaku aka Japanese yam or konjac cake. You need to drain and discard the liquid in the pouch before use. If you are sensitive to the smell of konjac, par-boil for 10 minutes before using. I personally can’t tell the difference so I get to skip the step of parboiling.
- You can use any variety of miso paste, with the red and white being the most popular types at the supermarket. I personally prefer red miso over the white variety for a richer taste and nicer colour.