Mussel Mushroom Miso Soup with Chuka Kuki Wakame

This is such a nice breakfast miso soup!  Full of flavor!  Every sip reminds me of working in fishing villages on the east coast and Florida.  The dashi is non traditional but not far from what a dashi is supposed to be. 
     Dashi Broth:  Boil some shrimp broth, a few dried small anchovies and kelp in a sauce pot over high heat for ten minutes.  Strain the broth and and return it to the sauce pot.  (Do not discard the cooked dried anchovies.  Set them aside for later.) 
     Simmer the broth over medium heat.  Add some miso paste and stir till blended. 
     Add a little bit of minced ginger, a dash of rice vinegar and a dash of soy sauce. 
     Add some cleaned raw mussels in their own shells. 
     Return the anchovies to the soup and discard the kelp. 
     Place a little bit of  pickled seaweed salad on the bottom of a soup bowl.  (Pickled Seaweed salad: Thin sliced kelp with sesame oil, rice vinegar, sea salt, white pepper, a little crushed red pepper, mustard seed and minced ginger.  Pickled seaweed salad is available pre made at a Chinese market.) 
     Pour the miso broth and cooked dried anchovies into the soup bowl.  Place the mussels in the soup bowl around the seaweed.  Place a few thin sliced cave mushrooms on top of the broth.  Sprinkle some thin sliced green onion on the center of the soup. 
     This is a nice Japanese breakfast!  The pickled seaweed salad is sold in Chinese and Japanese markets as Chuka Kuki Wakame.  Its nice with sushi and goes well in miso soup too.  There is no need to add sesame oil to the soup when using pickled seaweed salad because there is plenty of sesame oil in the salad.  The mustard seed imparts an interesting flavor to the soup.  The little dried anchovies are fully reconstituted after cooking the dashi and still have flavor.  I like this soup!  ...    Shawna