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TRANSCRIPT
Miso ramen soup with shiitake and seaweed Serves 4
Prep 15 mins + soaking
Cook 5 mins
2 tbsp arame seaweed
100g soba ramen noodles
750ml vegetable stock
2 tbsp tamari
1 tbsp ginger juice
1 tbsp rice vinegar
1 carrot, peeled, halved and cut in thin
half-moons
150g small broccoli florets
100g shiitake mushrooms
2 tbsp miso
3 spring onions, sliced
1 Soak the arame seaweed in hot water for
15 minutes.
2 Boil the soba ramen noodles in plenty
of water for 4 minutes, drain and divide
between 4 bowls.
3 Bring the stock to the boil and add the
seaweed plus its soaking water, the tamari,
ginger juice and rice vinegar. Then add the
sliced carrots, broccoli florets, and shiitake
mushrooms, and simmer gently for a couple
of minutes. Remove from the heat and stir in
the miso and sliced spring onions.
4 Pour the miso soup over the ramen
noodles and eat at once.
COOK’S TIP Miso soup can be delicious with
any seasonal vegetable.
n PER SERVING 146 cals, fat 3g, sat fat 1g,
carbs 22g, sugars 3g, protein 8g, salt 3.2g,
fibre 4g
Rachel Demuth
www.vegetarianliving.co.uk | 5756 |
Chef’stableIN THE KITCHEN WITH
Rachel was chef-proprietor of the
award-winning Demuths vegetarian
restaurant in Bath for 25 years, and is
now dedicated to running the Demuths
Vegetarian Cookery School. She is the
author of four vegetarian cookbooks,
including The Green Seasons Cookbook.
PH
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FROM THE PANTRY
MISOMiso is made with soya beans fermented with kojii. Kojii is cooked rice, barley or soya beans that have been inoculated with a fermentation culture – Aspergilius. Miso is very nutritious, rich in protein, minerals, B vitamins and calcium, but always add it at the end of cooking to avoid damaging the healthy enzymes. Hacho miso is made from soya beans, genmai miso from soya beans and brown rice, mugi miso from soya beans and barley, and natto miso is made from soya beans, barley, ginger and seaweed. The darker the miso the stronger the flavour, and it’s already salty so there’s no need to add more. You can use miso to make soups, dressings, marinades and sauces.
ESSENTIAL TIPS…Resident chef Rachel Demuth shares seasonal cooking ideas, tips, recipes and more…
Homemade sushiHow do I make vegetarian sushi at home?
It’s really easy to make your own sushi
at home. Your essential kit is a sushi mat
for rolling, sushi rice and sheets of ready-
toasted nori seaweed.
My favourite filling is a simple combination
of raw carrot, cucumber and mouli. Mouli
is a Japanese radish, which is white and
crunchy. It can be a metre long and tastes
less peppery than red radish. Avocado
is popular, although it’s not a traditional
Japanese filling, but you can experiment
with any fillings you like.
For a hot peppery flavour, wasabi can
be spread delicately inside the roll or
mixed with shoyu for dipping (I like the
fresh wasabi available from The Wasabi
Company: www.thewasabicompany.co.uk).
Cook the rice carefully and then spread it
out in a big dish to cool – in Japan the rice
is fanned to cool it. Lay the nori sheet on
the sushi mat and cover with a thin layer of
rice and a line of vegetables, plus a touch of
wasabi if using. Roll up like a Swiss roll using
the sushi mat to roll, pressing as you go.
Slice with a really sharp knife and eat quickly
as the rolls are best eaten fresh and sushi
rice doesn’t like being refrigerated.
SEAWEEDSeaweeds grow around the coasts of
the British Isles and are harvested from
unpolluted shorelines. Edible seaweeds,
which may be green (shallow water),
brown, or red (deep water), are collected
and then dried.
You can buy dried seaweed from
wholefood and Japanese stores. Look out
for the excellent Clearspring brand.
Seaweed is nutritious, a good source of
iron, calcium, iodine, sodium, potassium,
phosphorus and B vitamins.
To cook with seaweed, soak beforehand
and add to soups and salads or dry-roast
and sprinkle over salads and rice. There are
many different varieties:
l Arame is a finely shredded seaweed and
has a mild flavour for miso soups.
l Laver from West Wales is made into
laver bread.
l Dulse is purple and native to Ireland; it is
delicious dry-roasted.
l Konbu (kelp) is usually used for boiling
to make stock.
l Nori comes dried in sheets and is used
for making sushi, but make sure you buy
ready-toasted if you’re making vegetarian
sushi rolls.
l Hiziki (also spelt hijiki) is a sweet,
shredded seaweed and tastes good
in salads.
l Carrageen is used as a natural thickener.
l Agar-agar is a vegetarian setting agent
derived from seaweed and used as an
alternative to gelatin. Japanese agar-agar
is called kanten. It’s made from a seaweed
called Gelidiaceae which is a small family of
red algae (agar-agar is made from different
seaweeds). Kanten has a slightly crunchy
texture but sets stronger than agar-agar.
Buckwheat noodles should be vegan, but it is advisable always to check packaging for egg
and milk ingredients, especially if you decide to use a different type of noodle or straight-to-wok.
The new year is traditionally the time to cut
back after the festive excesses. Although we
all like to have a blowout every once in a while,
the Christmas overindulgence can be really
hard on our bodies and any excess calories
will be stored as body fat. High intakes of
nutrients such as sugar, saturated fat, salt and
alcohol can lead to feeling tired and sluggish
after the festivities are over.
Some quick ways to perk up your system
include fresh smoothies, colourful salads and
vegetable soups. Monica Shaw, our detox and
healthy-eating expert at the cookery school,
recommends drinking smoothies as part of
your January healthy-eating regime. They’re
crammed with good things such as vitamins,
minerals, fibre, folic acid and other protective
plant chemicals – often the colour of the fruit
and vegetable itself!
To maximise your smoothie’s nutrient
potential, try to balance 60 per cent fruit
with 40 per cent vegetables – with this ratio
the sweetness of the fruit should ensure you
won’t taste the spinach!
For fresh salads, make the most of winter
vegetables but try them raw. Julienned
beetroot, squash and sweet potato, grated
carrot with apple, grated celeriac with lemon
(celeriac when peeled discolours quickly so
toss in lemon juice) are all delicious. Mix the
salads with an oil-free dressing made with
lemon, orange or apple juice. Kale, finely
chopped and marinated in lemon juice with
goji berries, works well with chicory and
lots of fresh green parsley. Top with
pomegranate pearls and lightly toasted
pumpkin and sunflower seeds. You could also
add shredded seaweed like arame and hiziki:
soak the dried seaweed in warm water for
15 minutes, then drain and toss with tamari
and sesame seeds.
Light Japanese soups are ideal for
contributing to your five-a-day. Add noodles
and your choice of vegetables – try julienned
carrots or pumpkin and add broccoli or dark
leafy vegetables. Flavour with nourishing
miso and seaweed. On our Japanese cookery
course Sachiko teaches shojin ryori, which
means ‘to progress the spirit’. Shojin cooking
is a special way of preparing, cooking and
eating for Zen Buddhist monks, based on
the philosophy of balance, harmony and
simplicity. It’s a pure way of cooking, dairy-
free with no pungent flavours from onions or
garlic and using only grains, vegetables, soya
products and sea vegetables. Soup is eaten
every day and often a meal is defined by this
saying: Ichi ju san sai – ‘one soup and a bowl
of rice with three green dishes’. So miso soup
is ideal for January healthy eating.
NEW YEAR DETOX
Find out more at www.vegetariancookeryschool.com.For weekly seasonal recipes, follow Rachel’s blog at www.racheldemuth.co.uk/blog.
Ask Rachel…YOUR CULINARY DILEMMAS AND KITCHEN QUANDARIES ANSWERED
Sachiko’s next Japanese course at the Vegetarian Cookery School is on 26 January 2014. For details, visit www.vegetariancookeryschool.com/about/descriptions/japanese_master_class.
To learn more about making smoothies, check out Monica Shaw’s book at http://smoothies.smarterfitter.com and blog smarterfitter.com. In the spring, Monica will be teaching a detox course at the Vegetarian Cookery School.