Okay, this recipe really doesn’t go with any of the others, but it took me years to find out how to make this. It’s a simple soup and it isn’t difficult to make, but the ingredients can be difficult to find. Your best bet is an Asian store or a store that at least has a specialized Asian section.

Soak dried seaweed in cold water for 5 or 6 minutes to let it expand. I use something called “Wakeme,” which is a precut type of seaweed and goes well in the soup. If the package says to soak longer, it may be an indication of a thicker seaweed, which may stand out too much. All seaweed seems to expand about 20 times its dried size. Start to soak a few pieces and let it grow and see if you need more. You probably only need about 6 pieces of the pre-cut stuff. After you soak it, the stuff is slippery and hard to handle, but it can be cut into small pieces.

1 tsp bonito-style seasoning — this is like bouillon cubes only it is fish flavored pellets. The name on the jar was “Hon-dashi” and in a side note it said, “bonito type soup stock.” I tried chicken stock and it didn’t work very well—way too salty. You could try making your own fish broth.

4 cups water

Firm tofu diced into pieces

One green onion chopped

Two or three chopped mushrooms

~ 4 tablespoons of white miso

Heat the water and bonito pellets to boiling. (After you try this recipe, you may want to increase the bonito flavor a tad, but start here; those pellets are strong and if you overdo it, you won’t want to eat the result!) Add the onions, tofu and seaweed. Dissolve one tablespoon of miso at a time into the soup. I tried 3 tablespoons first; you might want to taste it after three and see if it is strong enough for you. Make sure you get white miso (which really looks light brown) and not the red miso. Red miso is also for making miso soup, but it is not likely the variety you’ve had in a restaurant in the U.S. It is typically served in the wintertime in Japan and is not common here.

After the miso is dissolved, the soup is ready! Bring on the sushi! And yes, I make sushi, but I can only advise you to take a sushi class because the process is lengthy and quite cumbersome.