Miso Soup

Suitable for vegans and vegetarians. Serves 4.

It took me a while to start cooking with miso. I didn't know where to buy it, I didn't know how to use it, I didn't really know what it looked like. But the more amazing miso soup I had at restaurants, the more I realised that I had to figure out how to utilise this mysterious magical paste in my cooking.

The truth is that miso is very easy to find and even easier to cook with. You can pick up a simple miso at most asian markets and a lot of health food stores will have it too. It is essentially a paste made from fermented beans or grain, traditionally soy beans. Adding just a few tablespoons of it to a soup or stock adds a deep umami flavour that almost replicates beef stock. I have since been experimenting with it, putting miso in everything from risotto to porridge. But this simple miso soup recipe really showcases the ingredient and has become a staple in my diet.

The other essential ingredient in this dish is seaweed. You can use broken up nori sheets, which you can pick up at most big supermarkets, or any other kind of asian dried seaweed. But I would recommend trying to find a bag of mixed seaweeds, ideally Irish and even better, harvested locally. Again, a lot of health food shops will have some kind of 'sea salad' or mixed seaweed available.

Ingredients:

• 150g mushrooms (a 50/50 mix of shiitake and oyster mushrooms works best if you can find them), 
• 15g seaweed, 
• 1 onion, thinly sliced, 
• 5 cloves or garlic, minced, 
• 1 tbsp grated ginger, 
• 4 spring onion bottoms, finely chopped (reserve the tops for garnish), 
• 2 tbsp tamari or soy sauce, 
• 2 1/2 tbsp miso, 
•  500 ml vegetable stock, 
• 1 litre water.

Method:

• Place a large pot over medium high heat with 1 tbsp of oil.
• Add the onions and cook for 4-5 minutes or until soft.
• Add the mushrooms and cook for 3-4 minutes or until slightly soft. Add a pinch of salt when you add the mushrooms to draw out some of their moisture.
• Add the garlic, ginger, and spring onions and cook for 2-3 minutes or until fragrant and slightly brown.
• Add the tamari or soy sauce and mix to combine.
• Add half of the water along with the miso. Mix until the miso is fully dissolved.
• Add the remaining water and the vegetable stock and mix to combine.
• Bring to a boil and reduce heat to low.
• Add the seaweed.
• Let simmer for 30-40 minutes.
• Remove from heat and season to taste with salt and pepper.
• Serve and garnish with roughly chopped spring onion tops.