I love cooking and I especially love it when I can take the time to cook during the week. However these days due to the nature of my work I often finish work late and want to think of healthy meals that are not only full of nutrition to keep me feeling energised, but that are also balanced, simple, quick and easy week night meals (I’ll leave the more complicated stuff for the weekends!).
I think I could do a load of posts on this, so here is one of many to come! This is actually a new one for me to add to my collection and it was a tasty success J Inspired by my favourite Yoga teacher and friend Gillian aka Gaura Lila of Avalon, whilst in the health food shop on the weekend, I salvaged all the basic ingredients I needed to make this meal complete; miso paste, dashi, seaweed. The great thing about this recipe is that once you have these three basic ingredients you are only limited by your imagination and fresh food supply to turn it into something more spectacular. Usually on Mondays if I haven’t been shopping over the weekend the variety of veggies in my fridge can be a little sad. Although it was a hot day and the last thing I felt like was soup it was still thoroughly enjoyable and was a great meal to have late as it is easily digested and doesn’t feel heavy in your tummy.
Miso has great health giving properties and is especially beneficial for vegetarians as it contains 13%-20% protein and vitamin B12. The most important thing to remember when cooking with miso is not to overcook as it contains heat sensitive bacteria (the same found in yoghurt), that assist with digestion. (1)
I have cooked with seaweed before, however I am not a huge fan of the big chunky varietys such as Kombu and Wakame so I chose to use Arame which is in thin stringy strands. Being summer and all I used white miso as this is traditionally used during warmer seasons.
My Miso (Serves 2-3)
Ingredients
1/3 cup dried Arame rinsed
1 carrot diced/sliced/julienned however you want!
5 button mushrooms sliced
1 sachet (approx 3 tsp vegetarian dashi granules)
4 Tbsp organic unpasteurised white miso paste
300g silken tofu, drained and cut into cubes
3 schallots finely diced
Method
Place Arame in a small saucepan and cover with water. Bring to the boil and simmer for 10 minutes.
Meanwhile heat a tablespoon toasted sesame oil in a medium sized pot and sauté the diced carrot and mushrooms.
When Arame is cooked strain and reserve the cooking water. Add extra water to it to make a total of 4 cups of water and then add this, the Arame and the dashi granules to the sautéd veggies. Bring this almost to the boil and then turn it down to simmer for approx 10 minutes.
Ladle about a cup of stock into a bowl and combine with the miso paste, stirring until dissolved. Turn the hot plate off and return the miso to the pot and stir until combined.
Divide tofu evenly among serving bowls and then divide soup and veggies evenly over the tofu. Sprinkle with diced schallots and serve. You could add tamari and/or white pepper to taste.
YUM!
Miso is often made with Shitake mushrooms, however the vegetarian dashi granules had shitake mushrooms in it already. You could experiment with other other vegetables such as broccoli, zucchini or even sugar snap peas which would add a nice freshness and sweetness to the soup and balance the saltiness of the miso.
Yours in yumminess,
Biss
Reference
(1) Pitchford, P. (2002). Healing With Whole Foods: Asian Traditions and Modern Nutrition (3rd Edition) North Atlantic Books, USA.
I think I could do a load of posts on this, so here is one of many to come! This is actually a new one for me to add to my collection and it was a tasty success J Inspired by my favourite Yoga teacher and friend Gillian aka Gaura Lila of Avalon, whilst in the health food shop on the weekend, I salvaged all the basic ingredients I needed to make this meal complete; miso paste, dashi, seaweed. The great thing about this recipe is that once you have these three basic ingredients you are only limited by your imagination and fresh food supply to turn it into something more spectacular. Usually on Mondays if I haven’t been shopping over the weekend the variety of veggies in my fridge can be a little sad. Although it was a hot day and the last thing I felt like was soup it was still thoroughly enjoyable and was a great meal to have late as it is easily digested and doesn’t feel heavy in your tummy.
Miso has great health giving properties and is especially beneficial for vegetarians as it contains 13%-20% protein and vitamin B12. The most important thing to remember when cooking with miso is not to overcook as it contains heat sensitive bacteria (the same found in yoghurt), that assist with digestion. (1)
I have cooked with seaweed before, however I am not a huge fan of the big chunky varietys such as Kombu and Wakame so I chose to use Arame which is in thin stringy strands. Being summer and all I used white miso as this is traditionally used during warmer seasons.
My Miso (Serves 2-3)
Ingredients
1/3 cup dried Arame rinsed
1 carrot diced/sliced/julienned however you want!
5 button mushrooms sliced
1 sachet (approx 3 tsp vegetarian dashi granules)
4 Tbsp organic unpasteurised white miso paste
300g silken tofu, drained and cut into cubes
3 schallots finely diced
Method
Place Arame in a small saucepan and cover with water. Bring to the boil and simmer for 10 minutes.
Meanwhile heat a tablespoon toasted sesame oil in a medium sized pot and sauté the diced carrot and mushrooms.
When Arame is cooked strain and reserve the cooking water. Add extra water to it to make a total of 4 cups of water and then add this, the Arame and the dashi granules to the sautéd veggies. Bring this almost to the boil and then turn it down to simmer for approx 10 minutes.
Ladle about a cup of stock into a bowl and combine with the miso paste, stirring until dissolved. Turn the hot plate off and return the miso to the pot and stir until combined.
Divide tofu evenly among serving bowls and then divide soup and veggies evenly over the tofu. Sprinkle with diced schallots and serve. You could add tamari and/or white pepper to taste.
YUM!
Miso is often made with Shitake mushrooms, however the vegetarian dashi granules had shitake mushrooms in it already. You could experiment with other other vegetables such as broccoli, zucchini or even sugar snap peas which would add a nice freshness and sweetness to the soup and balance the saltiness of the miso.
Yours in yumminess,
Biss
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Reference
(1) Pitchford, P. (2002). Healing With Whole Foods: Asian Traditions and Modern Nutrition (3rd Edition) North Atlantic Books, USA.
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