Combine all of the ingredients in a blender and blend until smoothly pureed. You may need to stop and scrape the blender a few times to get it going in the beginning.

Transfer the mixture into a pot and set over medium heat. Bring to a low simmer and keep cooking/stirring for another 5 min.

Let it cool completely and store in an air-tight container in the fridge until

needed.

Rinse the dried shiitake mushrooms to get rid of any sand/dirt. Finely chop them and set aside (without soaking).

In a large soup pot, heat up 1 tbsp of toasted sesame oil on high heat and start browning the fatty ground pork with ground black pepper.

Once the pork has broken up, browned, and released its fat, add 1/4 cup of the spicy miso paste and cook for another min until fragrant.

Add the chopped shiitake, unsalted stock and unsweetened soy milk and bring to a simmer.

Place 1/2 cup spicy miso paste on top of a very fine sieve. Lower the sieve half-way into the simmering soup and use a spoon to slowly dissolve the paste into the soup (it may seem very thick and troublesome in the beginning but be patient, it’ll dissolve eventually). Discard the “solids” in the sieve.

Let the soup simmer for another 5 min.

DONE!