Today I'm teaching you guys how to make miso soup,

But

more importantly, I'm also teaching you how to make dashi.

That doesn't sound as impressive 'til I explain what it is.

Dashi is the classic cooking stock used in a lot of Japanese cuisine.

Once you learn how to make this, you can make TONS of other dishes,

and I will forever, constantly refer you back to this video if you're like:

''How do I make dashi???''

and I'll be like,

''Go back to the miso soup video.''

It's super easy to make, but your house will smell a bit like Neptune's anus.

That's right, I said it.

Otherwise, if you have any cats, they will be super happy with what's going on.

Let's get started!

And by ''get started'' I mean

(sipping)

I need to drink some of this...

apple juice.

With ice cubes and a straw.

NOT Bourbon.

And ginger a-

It's Bourbon and ginger ale.

It's delicious.

aaAAH.

Now before we make miso soup, we have to make dashi, the cooking stock first.

Now, yesterday night, I started my dashi.

This is not it yet, but this is kombu,

which is a special seaweed used to make it.

Just soaking in normal, filtered water.

You don't have to soak it over night,

but if you soak it over night the flavours are so much richer and better.

You can make it like, right away on the stove top and, it'll be okay,

but this is the best way to do it.

The reason why this is the better way to do it is because

kombu is covered in all types of, like, minerals and a natural form of MSG

is actually on this in it's real life form.

You might see it looking kind of like a little bit white or grey,

you don't want to wash that off,

that's actually really important to the flavour.

You guys might have heard people talking about Japanese food as being like,

umami.

And that umami flavour often comes from this kind of a natural ingredient.

This is the basis for what people copy the taste of MSG.

Now, kombu is seaweed.

But I don't want you to mistake it for other kinds of seaweed.

Like, you guys might have this kind hanging around your house,

you might have seen this before for like wrapping up sushi rolls and stuff.

This is roasted seaweed and you absolutely CANNOT use this as a replacement.

It doesn't have anything on it,

and it will just turn into like, mush and be totally disgusting.

It's also not this seaweed, which is wakame.

And wakame is actually those seaweed pieces you have when you're actually drinking miso soup.

This is rehydrated and it will look a lot nicer.

I personally do not like that texture or taste of seaweed.

Didn't like it in Korea, do not like it in my miso soup,

but for the sake of making authentic miso soup, I bought this for you guys! (Triumphant and victorious music playing)

Personally I think it tastes like mermaid toilet paper.

But you know what, everyone has their own thing.

So for four cups, about a liter of filtered tap water,

I put in around 2 to 4 pieces of kombu.

I can't tell you the exact amount, because

when you buy your kombu, you might buy them in big sheets,

you might buy them in tiny squares.

So it really depends on what you're buying.

But it's kind of like,

four cups is gonna be like,

an iPhone 7's worth of kombu.

Originally I was like:

''I'll describe it like a phone, but what if you have a Galaxy?''

''What if you have a thinner phone?''

So think of it like,

this is how much you kind of want to put in,

if you have 4 cups.

Also,

this recipe is really cool, because as you taste your soup when you make it,

you can say:

''I didn't like that, it had too much seaweed flavour.''

and you can redo it again as you go.

So it's a really kind of a personal preference.

But, I'll get you started with the basic recipe.

Next up I wanna talk to you guys about bonito flakes, also known as katsuobushi.

So in English we call them bonito flakes, which apparently is not even right,

because it's not even the right fish.

But basically it's like a dried skipjack tuna or something,

that's been like, preserved and filled with mold like a cheese,

and then taken out again and then filled with mold.

And then they like, break it down after hundreds of days and

then they shave it and eventually we get this.

I don't even know.

It basically just smells like smoked fish,

it has a really smoky flavour to it.

And that's natural!

... after their days of aging. (lol)

This smoky flavour is extremely important to your soup.

You can add more or you can add less, depending on if you don't like the flavour.

You've definitely seen this before. It's usually, like, sprinkled on things like

takoyaki, the octopus/squid balls,

or like okonomiyaki.

And it looks like it's kind of like dancing and alive,

and it's not at all.

It's just that it's so thinly sliced, that the heat makes it kinda look like it's dancing.

We're gonna be using this as well.

These are really the only two things we need to make the base,

outside of the the water, the kombu and the katsuobushi.

We're gonna be thinking about miso next.

There are three different kinds of miso: there's red miso, brown miso and white miso.

When we went to Kyoto I found that the miso soup was really really sweet,

and I know that food changes regionally in Japan,

but it's because white miso is actually a lot younger and sweeter,

than brown miso or red miso.

Personally, because we've been to Tokyo more often, I prefer a brown miso based miso soup.

It's basically just kind of saltier in my opinion,

but I find that it was a bit too salty so I am mixing two different kinds together.

You can buy whatever kind you want, taste it, and if you find that it's too salty or too sweet,

get another one and see what that one is like as well.

So I'll be doing a brown miso mix with the white miso,

then you need to chop up some green onion and you need some soft tofu cut up into cubes.

And of course, your seaweed, rehydrated.

(mellow music playing)

...which is totally gonna add so much flavour and texture to the soup...

(grossed-out sigh)

*sarcastic tone* Oh noooo, I accidentally tripped and it fell into the toileeet~

OKAyh!

Let's get cooking!

So I'm making this recipe for two to three people depending on the size of your bowls.

I've basically been measuring everything based on my tiny little miso bowl that I got from Daiso for one dollar!

So, this recipe is really like two to three of those bowls.

I'm gonna add two cups of my kombu water base,

and I'm gonna add in about 2 to 3 pieces of the actual kombu.

We're gonna bring it to a boil, and BEFORE it actually boils,

you gotta take the kombu out of the pan.

If you let it boil, it becomes like a slimy, disgusting-

*Harry Potter theme playing in the background* Really?!

So copywritten as well!

Hey Banana.

(from the phone) Yeah?

I'm really sorry to tell you this but I'm just right in the middle of filming,

I just wanted to pick up and say hi :3

Can you see Boo?

(Martina's sister) We'll find another time.

If you just wanna very quickly show me Ellington I'd be very happy.

(Martina's sister) *whispering* There.

M: *gasp*

(Martina's sister) There's Ellington :333

M: Hi little Ellington ~

*cooing* Hi!

Hi Ellington!

(Martina's sister) *pretending to be the baby* Hi MarMar!

*lolling*

(Martina's sister as the baby) How are you?

*more laughter*

I do that to Meemers all the time!

(Martina's sister) That's my favourite thing to do!

Yeah I'm like ''I'm not responsible for this'' (???)

Martina's sis: Okay, we'll talk to you later!

Kay bye guys! Love you lots!

My sister had a baby and I'm a new aunt! (Translators' note: Congratulations to you both!)

And now we have to figure out what aunt means in Japanese 'cause

I'm ee-mo (이모) to my niece because I was in Korea,

but now I'm in Japan! What's aunt???

We don't know ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

The key with this moment is to bring it to a boil

but just before it actually starts boiling,

we have to take the kombu out.

If you leave it in, it becomes really like, slimy,

and it becomes bitter-tasting

and it will completely ruin your soup.

If you taste your soup and it's bitter, that's because you left it in for too long.

So I've removed my kombu, the water is boiling.

I'm gonna be adding my katsuobushi.

The key is to kill the heat, and we let it actually sink down to the bottom,

and we're gonna do that for five minutes.

Now, the smell is going to be like; ''Martina, what am I making?''

It will not taste this strong.

When I smelt it the first time I made this, I was like:

''This is gonna be revolting.''

But when you taste it, it's totally mild.

But right now, it smells like my cat is breathing into my mouth.

That's what it smells like.

Like Meemers is like: ''Mom I love you.''

''hhaAAAH''

And I'm like:

''nnNNEEEUGHAH''

*funky, sorta sexual music playing*

Hello my beautiful one ~

M. Run, Meemers!

Meemers: meoowwwh DDD:

M: I need to strain my katsuobushi.

S: We've trained our cat so that if you make kissy sounds, he licks you!

Watch:

*smooches and kissy sounds*

Did you train your cat to do that?

While the katsuobushi is actually soaking, you guys need to get something prepared in advance.

You're gonna need a bowl and you're gonna need a strainer.

I'm just using a piece of kitchen paper, like paper towel.

It's gonna capture all those little tiny bits and pieces that are broken down.

Afterwards we're gonna squeeze it out to make sure we get every single drop of that dashi.

And some people take that katsuobushi as well as the kombu,

and they dry it in the sun,

and then they chop it into pieces,

and they use it for powder to flavour their onigiri.

I, however, place mine directly in the garbage and seal it up and put it outside,

so that Meemers doesn't try and eat the garbage can.

Now that we've strained the katsuobushi out and we just have the clear dashi left,

I'm gonna bring that back to a boil.

I'm gonna add in my cubed soft tofu.

I'm gonna dump it in and let it warm up for like, 30 to 45 seconds.

I'm using about 2 to 3 fingers worth of tofu.

That doesn't sound good, does it?

I just mean like, the amount of size.

It's up to you again! If you don't like tofu, cut it out.

S: The amount of size???

Yes, the amount of size.

What?

S: *clears throat*

S: You mean the size?

The amount of the size.

S: You don't mean the amount of size, you just...

S: ...the size.

You're crazy. Now pass me my drink.

Martina's midnight munchies.

You know,

it's night time.

and I'm cooking miso soup which is

crAZY!!!!!11

It's for the morning!

*dramatic, inefficient sipping*

S: Is there a hole in the straw?

There is!

Every one of these garbage straws has a hole in it!