Miso Soup

It's been several days since I've written, but I have still been cooking. Honestly the things I have cooked this week have been so normal. Pedro asked me one morning, "you're taking a photo of toast?!" I had to laugh. I really did take a photo of my toast. For your amusement, the toast photo is at the end.

Anyway, here's miso soup. Miso soup is something great to make when you are short on time. It's super fast and very nutritious. The miso that I used is Eden brand Organic Mugi Miso. It is aged and fermented barley and soybeans. You can put any vegetable in the broth that you like. Cubes of tofu are also great in it. This is what is in this version:

Miso Soup
4 cups of water
1 large stick of wakame seaweed
1 grated carrot
1 yellow summer squash, sliced
1/2 of a white onion, diced
2 Tbs miso, dissolved in 2 Tbs of the soup broth
2 green onions, finely sliced (used as garnish. Sorry the photo doesn't show them)

1. Soak the wakame seaweed in cold water for at least five minutes to soften. Remove the middle stem, and cut the rest of the wakame in small strips or squares.
2. Bring the water to a boil with the cut wakame, the onion, carrot and squash. Simmer for about five minutes or until the vegetables are tender and there is a nice broth. Remove from heat. Remove a couple of tablespoons of the broth and put it in a small bowl. Add the miso to the bowl of broth and stir to blend. Add the miso mixture to the rest of the soup, stirring gently. Garnish with the green onions. Serve.

Note: if you are concerned with the soup ending up too salty, instead of adding two tablespoons of miso right away, start with one tablespoon and keep adding a bit more until it is to your liking.