Hondashi Miso Soup

I have been cooking with Japanese ingredients for more than a decade now, but I have yet to try hondashi!  I have always made my own dashi (and embarrassingly recently learned how much difference using soft water makes in terms of dashi flavor) because it isn't hard and the strained out bonito flakes make a fantastic furikake.  But ... it can be messy ... and at the end of a long day, it can be the "one more thing" that just doesn't get done ... and I recently found a really tasty store bought furikake that has a lot of the same flavors I like in my homemade version.

On a recent trip to NYC we went into a Japanese grocery and I bought a small jar of hondashi.  The other day I bought a handy whisk that you use to measure miso and then stir it into your soup!  So, I guess all I needed was one thing - directions!  At least on the jar I purchased, there is no information about how to work with it!

To make 4 Minute Miso Soup
https://steamykitchen.com/106-how-to-make-miso-soup-recipe.html

1. Cut up tofu.
2. Soak wakame, drain.
3. Boil water, turn off heat.
4. Whisk in instant dashi (1 teaspoon: 2 cups water)
5. Whisk in miso paste (2 tablespoons: 2 cups water)

Modifications to Mermaid Bunting

Body – Top section (Modified Version)

The rounds of the 1^st top section of the body are worked across a multiple of 6 sts. 

1:            K2, repeat [Kfb, sl4wyif] across, ending with Kfb, sl2. Put the yarn in the front, sl marker, then sl3wyif – THEN round 2 (84 sts)

2:            (after sl3wyif) repeat [K1, sl5wyif] across, ending with sl2wyif. Put the yarn in the front, sl marker, then sl3wyif – THEN round 3

3:            (after sl3wyif) K around

4:            K around

5:            repeat [Lift/K, K5] across

6:            K around

7:            repeat [K1, sl5wyif] across

8:            repeat [K1, sl5wyif] across

9:            K around

10:          K around

11:          K3, repeat [Lift/K, K5] across, ending with K2

12:          K around (run lifeline through this round – this is where the modification diverges from the original pattern)

The rounds of the 2^nd top section of the body are worked across a multiple of 7 sts. 

1:            K3, repeat [KFB, sl5wyif] across, ending with KFB, sl2. Put the yarn in the front, sl marker, then sl3wyif – THEN round 2 (98 sts)

2:            repeat [K1, sl6wyif] across, ending with sl3wyif. Put the yarn in the front, sl marker, then sl3wyif – THEN round 3

3:            K around

4:            K around

5:            [Lift/K, K6] around

6:            K around

7:            repeat [K1, sl6wyif] across

8:            repeat [K1, sl6wyif] across

9:            K around

10:          K around

11:          K4, repeat [Lift/K, K6] around, ending with K2

12:          K around

The rounds of the 3^rd top section of the body are worked across a multiple of 8 sts. 

1:            K4, repeat [KFB, sl6wyif] across, ending with KFB, sl2. Put the yarn in the front, sl marker, then sl4wyif – THEN round 2 (112 sts)

2:            repeat [K1, sl7wyif] across, ending with sl3wyif. Put the yarn in the front, sl marker, then sl4wyif – THEN round 3

3:            K around

4:            K around

5:            [Lift/K, K7] around

6:            K around

7:            repeat [K1, sl7wyif] across

8:            repeat [K1, sl7wyif] across

9:            K around

10:          K around

11:          K4, repeat [Lift/K, K7] around, ending with K3

12:          K around

Continue with 5 repeats of:

1:            K4, repeat [K1, sl7wyif] across, ending with K1, sl3. Put the yarn in the front, sl marker, then sl4wyif – THEN round 2

2:            repeat [K1, sl7wyif] across, ending with sl3wyif. Put the yarn in the front, sl marker, then sl4wyif – THEN round 3

3:            K around

4:            K around

5:            [Lift/K, K7] around

6:            K around

7:            repeat [K1, sl7wyif] across

8:            repeat [K1, sl7wyif] across

9:            K around

10:          K around

11:          K4, repeat [Lift/K, K7] around, ending with K3

12:          K around

Top Edge Ribbing and Bind off

Work twisted ribbing (K1b, P1) for 1.5” – bind off with a very stretchy bind off.