Miso Soup for Pregnancy
Both of these miso soup recipes are from Amy Chaplin’s cookbook titled At Home in the Whole Food Kitchen. In this artful cookbook she shares these wise words of advice: “Make sure any miso you buy is naturally fermented and unpasteurised so you get all the benefits of the live enzymes in contains. And be careful not to boil miso, as you will lose the enzymes and many of its nutrients; warm gently and remove from heat just before the soup begins to simmer.”
Spring Miso Soup with Lemon
| Serves 4-6 |
Ingredients
Dashi
6 cups filtered water
4 inch piece kombu
3 dried shiitake mushrooms
Soup
8 asparagus spears, trimmed and cut diagonally in 5cm slices
1 cup sugar snap peas, strings removed and sliced in half lengthways
3 medium radishes, thinly sliced
6 tbsp naturally fermented and unpasteurised organic sweet white miso
zest of 1 lemon
1 tbsp fresh lemon juice
1 small bunch watercress, trimmed (about 2 cups)
¼ thinly sliced scallions or chives
Method
To make the dashi
Add kombu, shiitakes and filtered water to a medium pot, and bring to the boil over high heat. Cover the pot, reduce heat to low, and simmer for 20 minutes. Remove kombu and shiitakes. Slice the shiitakes and return them to the soup with the other vegetables. Compost the kombu.
To make the soup
Bring the dashi to a simmer over hight heat. Add asparagus and sugar snap peas, and cook for 30 seconds. Add radishes and cook for another 30 seconds. Then remove all vegetables using a strainer or slotted spoon. Spread vegetables out on a large plate and set aside to cool.
Reduce heat to low. Add the miso to a medium strainer and place over the pot of dashi so the miso sits in the broth; stir to dissolve the miso. You may be left with some hulls from the miso; they can be added to the soup or left out for a smoother result. Add blanched vegetables and watercress; warm gently over low heat for a minute or until watercress is wilted. Be careful not to boil the soup. Remove from heat and stir in lemon zest and juice. Divide scallions between bowls and add soup. Serve immediately.
N.B. If you want to make this soup ahead of time, leave out the miso and keep the blanched vegetables and dashi separate. Reheat together; then add miso, lemon zest and juice.
Hearty Winter Miso Soup
| Serves 4-6 |
Ingredients
½ cup adzuki beans, sorted and soaked 12-24 hours in 2 cups filtered water
8 cups filtered water
3 dried shiitake mushrooms
2-inch piece kombu
1 tbsp unrefined, toasted sesame oil
1 medium onion, quartered and thinly sliced
1 medium carrot, halved lengthwise and thinly sliced on a diagonal
2 cups pumpkin, finely diced
1 cup thinly sliced kale leaves, preferably Lacinato
1 tbsp dried wakame, either instant or soaked
3 tbsp plus 2 tsp dark miso, either barley or brown rice miso
3 tbsp chickpea miso or mellow white miso
4 tsp fresh ginger juice
thinly sliced scallions, to serve
Method
Drain and rinse adzuki beans. Place in a medium-large pot; add water, shiitakes and kombu; and bring to the boil over high heat. Cover pot, reduce heat to low, and simmer for 30 minutes or until beans are soft and creamy inside. Remove from heat and set aside; remove and compost kombu. Take out shiitakes and set aside; once they’re cool enough to handle, cut off stems and compost them, slice the caps as thinly as possible and return to pot with beans.
Warm sesame oil in another large pot over medium heat; add onions and sauté for 3 minutes or until translucent. Stir in carrot and pumpkin, and cook for a minute more. Add adzuki beans and their cooking liquid; bring to the boil over high heat. Cover pot, reduce heat to low, and simmer for 10 minutes or until vegetables are cooked. Stir in kale and wakame, and simmer for 1 minute. Add misos to a medium strainer and place over pot so the bottom sits in the soup; stir to dissolve miso. You will be left with some hulls from the miso; they can be added to the soup or discarded. Stir in ginger juice* and remove from heat. Ladle soup into bowls, top with scallions and serve.
*to make ginger juice, finely grate fresh, unpeeled ginger root and place it in your palms. Squeeze over a cup or small bowl to extract juice. To get 4 teaspoons, you will need about 2½ inch piece of fresh ginger root.
N.B. Instant dried wakame comes in bit-size pieces with the tough stems removed, ready to add directly to soups. Other dried wakame needs to be soaked: place it in a bowl, cover with filtered water, and soak for 5-10 minutes or until tender. Drain, slice off any tough stems, roughly chop and add to soup.