Mozuku Soup: How to Make the Seaweed Soup

The convenience stores of 7 Eleven Japan not only carry a wide range of instant ramen noodles but also stock various kinds of instant miso and clear soups.

This packaged instant Mozuku soup I bought the other day is actually one of them.

Mozuku Soup (もずくスープ)

Based on the ingredient list on the back of the bag, the instant seaweed soup is a type of Osuimono with 2 different varieties of seaweed, Mozuku, and Kuki Wakame.

It is a clear soup seasoned with soy sauce, seafood extract, salt, fermented seasoning, and amino acid seasoning, garnished with edible clover called Mitsuba and Yuzu citrus peel.

Since the main ingredient in this instant soup is the healthy, low-calorie seaweed Mozuku harvested from the sea of Okinawa, the name of this product is Mozuku Soup with Kuki Wakame.

By the way, Kuki Wakame is the core part or stem of the Wakame seaweed.

Cooking

As for the cooking of this instant soup, once you pour 160 ml boiling water onto the soup base in a bowl, the block instantly dissolves in water and turns into a clear soup with tender seaweeds. 

Taste

Due to the polysaccharide on the surface, the seaweed Mozuku is slightly slimy, but I don’t care so much because I’m Japanese and I’ve eaten it countless times.

The broth is lightly salted and flavored with the umami ingredients written above. The most striking feature of this seaweed soup is the pleasant crunchy textures of Mozuku and Kuki Wakame.

Recipe

Speaking of Mozuku, the quintessential Japanese dish using the seaweed is Mozukusu.

As previously mentioned in this article, Mozuku-Su is easy to prepare. And using the vinegared seaweed, you can readily make Mozuku soup too.

Based on this recipe, for 2 servings, first, bring a mixture of water (200 ml) and chicken broth mix (1/2 teaspoon) to a simmer.

Then add the Mozuku-Su (100 grams) and once the soup returns to the simmer, sprinkle a dash of salt and pepper.