Vegan Dumpling Miso Soup is an easy-to-make Japanese comfort food that makes your body and soul warm and cozy! It's a perfect soup for autumn and winter.
Prep Time5 minutesmins
Cook Time35 minutesmins
Total Time40 minutesmins
Course: Appetizers & Starters, Sides, Main
Cuisine: Japanese
Servings: 4
Author: Plant-Based Matters
Ingredients
4cups960 ml purified water
1/2cupthinly sliced yellow onion
1/2cup julienned daikon radish
1/4cup julienned carrot
1cup all-purpose flour
1/2cuppurified waterplus more if necessary
2tsptoasted sesame oil
Heaping 1/4cupwhite miso & red miso (half & half)or your choice of miso, adjust to taste
1scallionfinely chopped
Shichimi pepper (Japanese 7-blend chili pepper flakes)optional
In a medium saucepan, combine purified water, carrot, onion, and daikon radish. Cover and cook on high heat until a gentle boil. When it’s almost boiling, reduce the heat to medium low. Continue to simmer for 5-10 minutes or so until veggies are tender.
Meanwhile, prepare the dumpling. Add all-purpose flour in a small prep bowl. Add water 2 tbsp at a time and mix with a spoon. Continue until the mixture forms a sticky dough but not runny. When the dough is coming together, add toasted sesame oil and continue to mix. Note: You may need more/less water to reach the desired consistency.
Use a spoon to scoop a small amount of dough (about 1 tbsp) and drop it gently in the soup. Repeat the process. Note: Don’t make the dumplings too big which may cause the inside to be undercooked.
Turn the heat up to medium high and bring it to a gentle boil. Then, reduce the heat to medium low and continue to cook for 5-10 minutes or so until the dumplings are fully cooked.
Turn off the heat. Add miso to the soup. To do this, place the miso on a ladle then partially submerge the ladle in the soup. Use chopsticks to slowly incorporate the cooking water into the ladle so miso can dissolve.
Turn the heat back on at medium high to reheat it (never boil!)
Serve with scallions on top. Sprinkle some shichimi pepper for some aromatic heat (optional.)
Notes
Choice of Miso
The taste profile of miso such as sweetness and complexity is completely different from one product to another. Find your favorite and adjust the amount to your preference.
My go-to multipurpose miso is koji miso (soybean-based miso with a substantial amount of rice koji) of any kind. It has a nice balance of savory and natural sweetness from koji.
Other miso such as chickpea miso and blended miso of a couple of different types of miso, e.g., white (yellow) and red miso blend, are also a good alternative.
Cooking Tips
To extract the flavors of the carrot, onion, and daikon radish into the soup, start cooking in the cold water and cook slowly at medium heat.
Never boil miso soup to retain the taste of miso at its best.
If you like more dumplings, increase the amount the dumpling ingredients: flour, water, and toasted sesame oil. That will make the soup more filling.
How to Store
Although, miso soup tastes the best when freshly made, you can store the leftover in a container with lid and keep in the fridge. Consume within 2-3 days.
Leftover miso can become saltier. If so, before reheating, add a small amount of water to dilute to adjust the taste as necessary.
Flour from the dumpling may thicken the leftover miso soup. You can add desired amount of water to thin it out or leave as is.