Master the basics of miso to transform everyday cooking
Summary
Tips, hacks and recipe ideas for the hot favourite Japanese seasoning
If you dine at Ground Up, chef Gayatri Desai’s ferment-forward restaurant in Pune, chances are you will be offered a tour of her miso room. Desai has amassed around 40 batches of miso, most of which are prepared using indigenous grains and legumes. There’s one made from ghevada, a rajma-like bean with a GI tag from Satara district in Maharashtra. The 36-year-old chef wants to familiarise her diners with an ingredient otherwise rooted in Japanese culture, and at the same time make it accessible and approachable for Indian home cooks.
Miso is a fermented soybean paste, and is believed to have originated in ancient China, and been a Japanese staple for over a millenia. It is made of soybean, salt and koji, which is a fungus cultivated on a grain like rice or barley, and acts as a culture to aid the fermentation process. It can take several months or years for the flavours to mature—from mild fruity and sweet to savoury with a kick of umami. It is categorised according to colour—white, yellow and red—which indicates the duration of fermentation and flavour profile. Although miso is usually associated with Japanese cuisine, restaurants are now jazzing things up by using it beyond miso soup and ramen bowls. Chefs are also amping up desserts and cocktails with miso. And the market is flooded with miso products targeting the adventurous cook.
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“The acceptance is slow and it could be because people think it is soybean paste with a funky flavour," says Prachet Sancheti, who has been running the artisanal brand Brown Koji Boy from Goa since 2022, and uses chana dal and cashews to make miso. His aim is to make it an easy ingredient in the Indian kitchen, and therefore can be found sharing simple ideas to elevate everyday meals on his Instagram page (@brownkojiboy). While miso works wonders when it comes to one pot meals, the most reliable hack according to him is to use it in the form of compound butter. “Combine miso with unsalted butter and store it in the fridge. Now use it to stir fry and saute veggies or meats. It works great for making sauces too as it gives a good shine," he says. Sancheti even recommends making a version with ghee, and using it instead of oil to make upma. “Or maybe finish off a pav bhaji with a dollop of miso butter!"
“Miso can make things exciting when everyday food gets monotonous. It helps to round off the flavours," believes Desai, who loves to use it for making dips. For instance, a last-minute cream cheese or mayo dip when hosting. Using it as a glaze for chicken or fish is also a great option. “It’s a game changer because when the starch from the koji breaks down, it gives a lovely caramelised effect, and adds a unique flavour and texture."
Desserts, especially baked, seem to be another popular choice as it helps in cutting the sweetness in cakes and cookies, and giving it a more pronounced flavour. “If you love dark chocolate cookies like me, try adding some miso to your dough. The deep layer of umami balances the sweetness and bitterness of the chocolate while giving it a subtle savoury profile," suggests chef Vanika Choudhary, whose fermentation experiments led her to come up with a superlative dark chocolate miso cookie with Kashmiri walnut at her plant-forward restaurant Sequel in Mumbai.
Choudhary’s savoury recipe hacks include pulaos: just add your choice of protein, some fragrant rice, chicken stock and a spoon of miso. “A bowl of curd rice topped with podi and a bit of white miso can transform your meal too," she adds.
But, where does one start? “I’d suggest beginning with white miso as it is milder and sweeter. Use it for lighter curries, say a coconut milk-based curry," says Desai.
Make your decision based on what you wish to cook, says Choudhary. “The colour of miso is an easy indicator. If you are cooking meats, go for a red miso as it gives a complex body to the dish. Keep the yellow for seafood and veggies."
Buying miso can be a daunting task for beginners, and therefore Sancheti’s tip is foolproof. “Always check labels. Miso consists of three ingredients. If there’s anything extra in the form of additives, it means it has not been naturally fermented," he says.
Brown Koji Boy artisanal range of misos are available to ship pan India on www.brownkojiboy.com, and select stores in Goa and Delhi. Desai's miso products can be ordered through @groundup.in AirMenus on Instagram.
Baked fish with miso
Recipe by chef Vanika Choudhary
Ingredients
One whole fish (Barramundi, sea bass, trout); gutted and cleaned, heads and tails on
60 gm white miso
30 gms ghee
30 gms honey
4 tsp soy sauce
2 tsp rice wine vinegar
2 tsp freshly grated ginger
Lime zest
Method
In a bowl, whisk together miso, ghee, soy sauce, vinegar, ginger, lime zest and honey. Let this mixture rest in the fridge for 2-3 hrs. Preheat the oven to 200 deg C. Grease a baking dish with some ghee. Place the fish in the dish and coat it with the marinade. Bake for 10-12 mins and then broil on high for a couple of minutes to nicely caramelise it.
