MISO SOUP
As well as being a delicious, regularly prepared dish, Miso soup makes an overall immune system enhancer by regulating our microbiome and overall digestive health.
Bring 4 cups of water to a boil. Add 1 cup daikon white radish, sliced into thin half moons, and cook 5-10 minutes, until tender.
Take 1 three-inch piece of dried wakame seaweed that has been soaked in a little cold water for 5 minutes until it softens and fans out. Avoid over-soaking the wakame, or it will become slimy. Remove the hard inner stem of the wakame and reserve it for use in a bean or stewed dish, or a longer-cooking soup.
Slice the wakame into small pieces and add it to the soup. Cook for another 3 minutes then add 1⁄2 cup daikon or other greens, thinly sliced, and lower the flame to simmer.
Add 1 ⁄2 tablespoon barley miso that has been pureed with 1⁄4 cup of your soup broth in a “suribachi -serrated bowl mortar and pestle combination available in most natural food stores or Oriental shops.
Simmer 3-5 minutes longer on a very low heat, making sure there are no bubbles and that it does not boil. Boiling miso destroys its beneficial enzymes and bacteria. Serve garnished with sliced scallions or parsley.
Variations:
Add sliced wakame (stem included) at the beginning of simmering the vegetables.
Substitute dulse, or nori, for the wakame.
Alternate your choice of vegetables, using one type of ground or root vegetable with one type of green leafy.
Some possibilities are:
Onion/kale miso soup, squash/leek miso soup, carrot/carrot top, etc.
Squeeze the juice from grated ginger root to create a more warm spicy effect, and/ or squeeze in a touch of lemon juice to create a slight sour spark.
