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Monday, February 21, 2011

Miso Soup

I have become more interested in vegan & macrobiotic ways of eating recently.  I know I can never be 100% vegan, but I can choose to eat vegan at least some of the time.  One big plus is that my hubby can also eat vegan meals, since they don't have dairy products.  A lot of times vegetarian recipes are heavy on dairy products & my hubby cannot partake.  I am by no means an expert on macrobiotics, but I am very interested in learning more about it.  It would seem to me that the most important staple in the macrobiotic diet is miso soup.  I often see it being eaten as breakfast.  I do have to say that I love miso soup.  There are many recipes out there, but this is the one I like best.  It's just so simple & it's the one I always reach for.  I personally vary what goes into it somewhat.  I usually always have daikon, carrot, & mushroom in it, but sometimes I put in more, just depends on my mood & what's available in my kitchen.

Miso Soup

Water
Soy Sauce
1 garlic clove, minced
1 small carrot, sliced
1 slice daikon radish, chopped
Handful of mushrooms, sliced
Handful of water chestnuts, sliced
Soba noodles, optional
Greens or sea vegetable
1 teaspoon miso per cup water

*I generally start with 4 cups of water & add just enough soy sauce to make it "brothy", not too much or it will be too salty, & bring to a boil
*add veggies & simmer for 10 minutes
*add greens & noodles, if using & turn off heat
*take a small amount of broth out of the soup & mix miso into it, once it's mixed in smoothly, no lumps, add back to soup pot & stir it in well

Note 1: miso is a fermented product, much like yogurt & kefir--you never want to "cook" it or else you will kill off the healthy enzymes it contains; always add it in after the heat is turned off

Note 2: for greens I usually use the sea vegetable wakame

Note 3: I am a tad anti-soy, I personally think soy is way overused & too much of it is not a good thing--it can affect our hormones, thyroid, etc.  I also have a very severe bad reaction to LIQUID soy products.  However, I have seen studies that show that FERMENTED soy products are much much healthier for us than other soy products are.  Fermented soy products include miso, tempeh, & true fermented soy sauce (tamari, shoyu, etc).

4 comments:

Stacey said...

I was interested in learning more about the macrobiotic diet, and while I haven't researched it as thoroughly as I'd like yet, I have seen that it's a lot of grains & cooked (&some raw) veggies... so I wonder about the cooking part of the veggies - With all the talk about "raw foods", I wonder why there would be an emphasis on cooking veggies? Also I read that veggies can be steamed, boiled, baked, etc - and I wonder why it would advocate boiled (just 'cuz from what I've read generally, that seems to be a least preferable way)... Any thoughts? -Stacey

Stacey said...

Oh, also wanted to mention for a fermented product, natto (fermented soybeans) - which I ate more when we lived back in CA due to availability, and while I like it (learned to like it more from a Japanese friend too :)) but I must say it's an acquired texture (a little slimy/stringy), although it tastes good with a little salt (and it smells bad). So... don't know how interested you'd be in that - but the other thing I was thinking of too is chickpea miso. Just bought some the other day & it's really good! :)

Frau Guten Tag said...

I'm certainly no expert on macrobiotics, but I've never seen it emphasize "raw" veggies.....so boiling veggies in a soup seems perfectly normal to me, but again, I'm no expert.

The natto doesn't sound appealing to me at all, sorry, I have a lot of texture issues when it comes to foods, LOL.

As for miso, the little research In have done states that barley miso that is aged over 2 years or more is the most preferred & is considered "medicinal" in a sense. So that's what I always buy, for that reason.

Frau Guten Tag said...

One more thought: Natural Hygiene does emphasize eating raw veggies a lot, they also emphasize the least amount of preparation as possible (along with the most well known aspect of the diet, food combining). At least it originally did, there are some more modern takes the diet that have bended that rule quite a bit.