Basic Miso Soup

Vino Girl's Note:

This recipe was my introduction to making miso soup. I love recipes like this that encourage you to be creative and make it your own - something many of us will do anyway! The instructions include many add-in ideas. I put spinach, shiitake mushrooms, and extra green onions in mine, using the water I soaked the mushrooms in for some of the water called for in the recipe. From Eden Organic Foods.

• Total Time: 25 mins
• Prep Time: 10 mins
• Cook Time: 15 mins

Ingredients:

Servings: 4

• 3 teaspoons wakame seaweed or 1 teaspoon wakame seaweed , flakes
• 4 cups water
• ½ cup onion , thinly sliced
• ½ cup carrot , diced
• 1 ½ tablespoons mugi miso (OR 1 1/2 Tbsp plus 1/2 tsp Hacho, Genmai or Shiro Miso)
• 3 tablespoons green onions , finely sliced

Directions:

1. Rinse wakame; soak in cold water to cover for 5 minutes and dice, or if using flakes, add directly.
2. Bring water to a boil. Add onions and wakame; simmer 3 minutes.
3. Add the carrots and simmer 5 more minutes; reduce heat to very low.
4. Add miso and simmer 2 minutes (do not boil after adding miso). Garnish with green onions.
5. Optional Ingredients: fresh or dried tofu, shiitake mushrooms, leafy greens, daikon, lotus root, leeks, round or root vegetables, cooked noodles or grains.