Recipe(tried): Miso Soup and Seaweed Salad

Hi Everyone!

When I was in Miami, my cousin introduced me to Japanese food. I enjoyed the Miso Soup and the Seaweed Salad but did not like the sushi at all.

Since coming back home, I have been experiencing hot flashes. I am wondering if this has anything to do with my losing weight as I have read that estrogen is stored in our fat cells. And, I am losing my fat cells rapidly on my diet! I have read many books at the library and visited many sites on the Internet in search of information. I wanted to replenish my diminishing estrogen naturally and found in the books that adding soy helps tremendously. Two books that I bought are: Soy of Cooking by Marie Oser and The Natural Estrogen Diet by Dr. Lana Liew. Both are filled with many delicious soy recipes. Soy milk, tofu and miso are just but many of the products that can help.

Miso is a savory, fermented soybean paste that has a consistency somewhat like peanut butter. A mainstay of Japanese cuisine for centuries, miso is a living natural food, rich in enzymes and beneficial bacteria. Miso is easily digested and highly nutritious. It adds depth of flavor to soups, sauces, marinades, dips, salad dressings, and main dishes. It should always be kept refrigerated. I found it at my local oriental store. The yellow one is the one I used for the soup.

Tofu is soybean curd made from coagulating soy milk with seaweed or calcium chloride in much the same way cheese is made from milk. It is high in protein, low in saturated fats, and cholesterol free. Tofu's blandness and ability to absorb flavors make it a very versatile ingredient.

Miso soup is considered a nutritional keystone, an integral part of the traditional Japanese breakfast. It is delicious any time of the day. When I first tasted it, I thought it was chicken broth with a few scallions and tofu cubes floating in it. I decided immediately I liked it. Little did I know what ingredients go into it to make it the savory and light soup it is. I also enjoyed the refreshingly light cold seaweed salad.

Seaweed, or Kombu is a dark green deep-sea vegetable harvested in cold northern waters. It is used to flavor the miso soup. I found it at the oriental market in a bag. The kind lady showed me how much to use in the soup, she roughly measured with her hand about 1/4 cup. She told me to soak it in a bit of water first to see how much it expanded. In this recipe from Ming Tsai's book, BLUE GINGER, the seaweed is to be discarded. But I saw that as a waste. After straining it out of the soup, I put in a bowl, drizzled a bit of sesame oil and sprinkled some sesame seeds over it and put it in the fridge to cool off. It was delicious as a side dish to my soup.

I must admit my DH was not going to have any of this...so I made him Campbell's Cream of Tomato Soup and served it alongside some Saltines, his very favorite comfort meal.

The miso soup was delicious and reminiscent to the one I tasted in Miami. I am sharing this because the soup was good. I just hope all this soy will alleviate my discomfort.

Happy Cooking! Gina

Miso Broth
Ming Tsai's Blue Ginger Cookbook

serves 4

Dashi:
This can come in powder form, just make sure you buy it without MSG. Dashi is what the Japanese call a basic stock made by heating seaweed and bonito flakes. The bonito flakes come in little plastic packets.

1/4 c. dry seaweed (kombu)
1 c. bonito flakes (about 2 packets)

Place the seaweed in a little bowl with some water so that it can expand. When expanded, place the seaweed in a large pot with 5 cups water and heat over medium heat. Just before it boils, remove from heat, let it stand 5 minutes, remove seaweed from pot and return pot to heat. When it reaches boiling stage, again remove the pot from the heat and add the bonito flakes. When they sink to the bottom, strain the soup thru a fine wire mesh. Measure 4 cups of the soup into another pot.

2 Tbsp. yellow miso
2 1/4 inch slices fresh ginger
2 Tbsp. scallions (green parts only)
1 cake soft tofu, cut into cubes (I used 1/3 only)
* I added 1 garlic clove, sliced

Add miso to soup and whisk til it is smooth. Add ginger and garlic and simmer for 5 minutes. Remove ginger and garlic, ladle soup into bowl, add tofu and scallions.

Leftovers can be refrigerated and heated up the next day. Delicious.