My Miso Soup

I had this for dinner last nite as I was eager to taste what Korean miso tastes and looks like - definitely a lot darker in color than the Japanese one - almost a brick or burnt red color. I wanted to stay true to the original recipe and make it just with miso paste and tofu, but I made the mistake of putting my tofu in the freezer and it wouldn't thaw fast enough for my post-work hunger. So I improvised with cabbage, baby corn and asparagus. I boiled the asparagus for 2-3 minutes, which did leave some of the stalks a bit chewy and sinewy - So, I'd recommend boiling them for an additional minute or so.

Ingredients:

• 1 large tablespoon of Korean miso
• Two baby corns, chop into bite size morsels
• A big handful of green cabbage, julienned
• A small handful of asparagus (stalks?)
• A small knob of ginger
• Sesame seeds to garnish

To make:

• Boil the cut asparagus for 3-5 minutes.
• Drain and plunge into ice water.
• Retain the water used to boil the asparagus.
• Pour some of it over the miso paste in a seperate bowl.
• Stir till the miso is dissolved and gives off a lovely brown color.
• Add that back to the asparagus water.
• Add the ginger, finely chopped, to the boiling water.
• Put this back on the gas and bring to a boil, then turn off the gas.
• In your serving bowl, add the cabbage, corn and asparagus at the bottom of the bowl.
• Pour over your miso-ginger water over the vegetables in the bowl.
• Garnish with sesame seeds on top.
• Serve immediately.

Note: I did not forget to mention salt. The miso is salty enough on its own. Plus, I dont use salt or sugar.

Time to make: 5-10 minutes, tops.

Salads Galore

I'm giving my blender a break and using up my abundant, organic harvest from Sunday. So, salads it is! Yesterday it was my Veggie Delight Salad, and today for lunch I had my Carrot Salad with Tahini Sauce.

Veggie Delight Salad:

Toss together:

• Baby lettuce
• Red pepper
• Yellow pepper
• Green pepper
• Black and green olives
• Cucumber slices
• Red cabbage
• Dried basil

I added some of the salty water from the olives and left it overnight in the refrigerator -So I didnt need any dressing.

Carrot Tahini Salad

• 2 Whole Organic Carrots
• Some asparagus ends
• Sunflower seeds
• Handful of raisins
• Handful of black olives
• 1 tablespoon of tahini paste

To make:

• Cut the carrots into thin strips.
• Boil the asparagus for 3-5 minutes and immediately submerge into icy water to retain the color and stop the cooking.
• Toss the carrots, asparagus, olives and raisins together. Then add the dressing before you eat it. The sunflower seeds go in last for the crunch.
• Dressing: Add some water and lime juice to your tahini paste and mix it together till there are no lumps.

Note that the tahini is going to make the salad extremely filling (I still have 1/3rd of my salad from lunch left over!), so you may want to reduce the portions.
Also note that the tahini dressing will dry up as the day goes on. It wont go bad, but the salad's a lot yummier when the dressing is still liquid.

Sunday Shopping at the Farmers Market and Nature's Basket

The kind folks at The Farmer's Market tempted me there today for a visit with promises of organic avocados...I've been meaning to get them forever, but cant seem to find them anywhere. So, off I went to Wind Chimes Playschool, Bandra, to buy 2 kilos worth. Avocado season is over, said the farmers at the market. So I was a bit annoyed having travelled more than 30 kilometers just for the avocados! Determined not to let this little setback ruin my Sunday, here's what else I bought at the farmers market, and just ahead of the road at Nature's Basket. All organic and locally sourced produce at the farmers market - Can't wait to dig into my carrot salad with tahini dressing and sunflower seeds!!!

Gotta say, I LOVE Nature's Basket!!! Feel like a kid in candyland.  - Liquorice, olives, sunflower seeds (been searching for ages since I finished my last pack from California), peppers, and a wild card - Korean, not Japanese Miso. Now that I have it, I'll look for recipes to build around the ingredients I have - Like this miso soup recipe.



Sunflower seeds, green and black olives, jalepeno peppers, Korean miso, liquorice candy



Very excited about the miso!!!





Organic Asparagus



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They even handed me a leaflet of recipes to make with my asparagus



Organic carrots are butt ugly! ;)



Zuccini




Dont they look oh so pretty?





Organic gluten and sugar free muffins (Got a bit mushy on my way home)



This one's made of ragi, I think.