I like working with broths or soups because you can modify the recipe constantly and taste as you go to find the flavors you are looking for.
Ghetto Fab Miso Soup -
(disclaimer: this is not even close to how traditional miso soup is made. There is no Konbu used or Dashi stock.)
1. 2 cups of water, bring up to a simmer.
2. Crush/grind/smash 2 tbsp of garlic. (sometimes I go a little crazy and do 4+ tbsp of garlic if i'm suffering from a cold or flu. In which case the garlic really comes out, but if you love garlic like me, that's ok!) Usually your cheese grader has a nice part on in which you can use for this. you want it to be finer than minced.
3. Crush/grind/smash 1-2 tbsp of ginger. add both garlic and ginger into the simmering water and taste. (I used to hate ginger, I hate ginger candies/snaps, and never liked the root til I started using it in soups.)
4. add a cube of either beef/chicken/vegetable bullion. keep water simmering (but not at a full boil).
5. add about 1 - 2 tbsp miso paste into a strainer, dip the strainer into the water and mix (so that the large particles of the miso paste remain in the strainer, and the rest dissolves into the water.
(if you don't have miso paste, don't worry, just use another half cube of bullion in its place, it still tastes great.)
6. add a little soy sauce (1 -2 tbsp) and taste... at this point I try to find a nice balance of intense flavor without adding too much soy sauce and making it over-salty, but I do like it pretty salty so I probably go up to 3-4 tbsp of soy sauce.
7. Now, if you want to go the extra mile, add stuff to the soup... like diced green onions, mushrooms, tofu, meats, finely sliced onion, snow peas, iceberg lettuce/cabbage, even a hard boiled egg. Fishcake works too if you happen to have it.
8. finally add a tbsp or less of oil. Preferably toasted sesame oil, but normal olive oil or even butter works fine also.
Serve the broth/soup with a seperate bowl of freshly cooked short grain white rice.
Using a spoon, grab a chunk of rice and dip it in the broth and consume.
The plain white rice acts pairs perfectly with the strong, intense and sometimes salty flavor of the ghetto fab miso broth.
A cold beer also is a great contrast to the temperature heat of the Soup/rice.
ITADAKIMASU!!!