Miso Rosół (Polish-Japanese Chicken Broth)
Every culture has a healing chicken soup. I combined Poland's and Japan's into one super-soup. Rosol — Poland's golden chicken broth — is what babcia made when anyone was sick, sad, or just cold. Miso ramen serves the same healing purpose in Japan. Both are chicken-based, aromatic, served with noodles. Both are medicine disguised as dinner. So I asked the question that defines Polish Mom: what if I combined them?
Ingredients
- 6 cups homemade chicken broth rosol-style is best — see rosol recipe
- 2 tablespoons white miso paste
- 1 tablespoon fresh ginger, grated
- 1 tablespoon soy sauce
- 1 teaspoon sesame oil
- 2 cups shredded cooked chicken
- 2 medium carrots, thinly sliced
- 2 nests of egg noodles or ramen noodles
- Fresh dill AND sliced green onions both traditions represented
- Nori strips, sesame seeds
- Optional: soft-boiled egg
Method
Heat the Broth
- Bring chicken broth to a simmer with sliced carrots. Cook 5 minutes until carrots are tender. Add ginger and soy sauce. Ladle out 1/2 cup of hot broth and whisk in the miso paste until dissolved — never add miso to boiling liquid. Pour the miso mixture back in. Add sesame oil. The broth should be golden with a slightly cloudy quality from the miso — it looks like rosol that spent a semester in Tokyo.
Add Protein and Noodles
- Cook noodles separately (keep the broth clear). Add shredded chicken to the broth to heat through.
Serve
- Noodles in the bowl first. Ladle broth and chicken over. Top with fresh dill (the Polish element), sliced green onions (the Japanese element), nori strips, and sesame seeds. Add a halved soft-boiled egg if you want the full ramen treatment. The bowl should have both dill and green onion floating on the surface — two herbs from two traditions, coexisting in one broth. This visual is the whole philosophy of the recipe.