Brocolli Miso Soup

I have a new toy ~~~~~~~ !

Introducing Bethany... my new Bamix deluxe handheld blender. :)

So its bye bye to my dear old Sunbeam StickMaster...

I've been aching to try out Bethany since I picked her up off the shelves from Peters of Kensington over the weekend. So yesterday night after work, I picked up some veggies from the local green grocer and went straight home to try out this soup recipe I had previously stumbled upon.

I've always been a sucker for blended soups. Mushroom, Pumpkin, Tomato... but this was one I haven't tried before. The recipe stood out because the idea behind it was fascinating. The recipe uses Miso paste to add depth and flavour to the soup. And yet no milk, cream or stock is required. Just Veggies, Miso paste, herbs and water. Yummo!

I first saw the recipe from WellFed. The original can be found here, the recipe below is slightly modified as I made it in a pressure cooker to save time. But I'm sure the recipe will still work fine if not using a pressure cooker.



Brocolli Miso Soup
As seen from WellFed

Ingrediants:

• 2-3 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil
• 1 medium onion, finely chopped
• 2 carrots (finely chopped)
• 2x bunches of broccoli (About 500g - florets removed from the stems, the stems peeled with a vegetable peeler and diced)
• 4 tablespoon white miso dissolved in 1 cup of water
• 2 bay leaves
• 1 teaspoon freshly grated nutmeg
• Salt and Pepper to taste
• Cheddar Cheese (shaved) - Optional

Method:

1. Using a pressure cooker, over medium heat, add in olive oil, bay leaves and cook the carrots and onions until slighly softened.
2. Add in the broccoli stems and cook them until slightly softened also.
3. Next add in the broccoli florets and then the dissolved miso paste
4. Cover pressure cooker lid and set to 8 PSI and turn heat on high to bring to pressure.
5. Once pressure is obtained, lower heat and cook for 15 mins.
6. Release pressure, check that the vegetables are soften and remove bay leaves.
7. Blend the contents with an immersion blender.
8. Taste and adjust with salt and pepper if required (salt may not be required depending on the type of miso being used).
9. Serve just is or with some shaved cheddar cheese (optional).

Notes:

• If using a large stock pot instead of a pressure cooker then it has to be simmered on medium heat for 35-40 mins after bringing to boil.
  

Miso Soup - Miso Shiru

I've finally got most of my backlogged posts published. Which considering the last two months was no easy feat. I never mentioned it before, but I was out of the country during the last two weeks of January and traveled back home to Perth to be with my extended family during Chinese New Year. Then I ended up scheduled to work every weekend since I was back in Sydney until now. I actually got most of my posts finished up last weekend, when I was working onsite. I had to wait for the other teams to finish before I had to do my part. That wait took 5 hours. Most data centers are like a large and very noisy walk-in refrigerator. This one was one of those. All I could think of while waiting (and typing up my posts), was that I wish I had a nice hot bowl of miso soup with me.

In that environment, I don't think there could be anything that could be as soul satisfying than sitting there with my hands cupped around a hot bowl of miso soup, sipping away, savouring each mouthful.

And you guessed it, as soon as my part was done, I got home, boiled some water, added some dashi granules, miso paste and some other ingredients found in my pantry and fridge and 10 mins later... ta-daaa.. Miso Soup...!

Miso is a great base for a seafood based soup too. Whenever I do have enough seafood bits and pieces on hand (and the spare time), I make a Fisherman's Soup with the off cuts of seafood (eg. Fish head, Mussels, salmon, prawn) with miso. But this time, it was just a simple miso soup with some Enoki mushrooms thrown in... And boy did it hit the spot. :)

Miso Soup - Miso Shiru

normally serves 2, or 1 in this case (if you want seconds)

• 1 teaspoon Dashi granules
• 3 cups water
• 2 tablespoons White miso paste *
• 1/2 tablespoon Mirin
• 1 piece package Silken tofu (diced into cubes - 1 piece is about 75g)
• 1 tablespoon Wakame seaweed
• 70g Enoki Mushroom (washed, brown roots removed) - Optional

* you may need to adjust this depending on the type of miso used

Method:

1. In a medium saucepan over medium-high heat, add in the dashi granules to the water and bring to a boil.
2. Reduce heat to medium, pour in the mirin and whisk in the miso paste.
3. Add in the Enoki mushrooms and seaweed.
4. Stir in the tofu cubes.
5. Simmer gently for 2 to 3 minutes before serving.

Pho Ga - Daring Cook's Challenge

The October 2009 Daring Cooks’ challenge is from Jaden of the blog Steamy Kitchen. The recipes are from her new cookbook, The Steamy Kitchen Cookbook.

There is a short version and a long version. Since I had only just touched down from my work trip to Melbourne, I opted for the shorter version. One of the rules of the challenge was that the longer version recipe was not to be reproduced on other sites. If you would like to try out the longer version, you can access the link to the recipe here - Pho Ga (long version)

The only grocery store that is within walking distance also did not have any limes, so I had to substitute with a lemon instead. I did also manage to pick up some mint leaves at the grocery store. I can't really imagine having Pho without mint leaves, so although the recipe doesn't call for them, I added them into my list of accompliments. I also used some fresh packaged rice noodles instead of buying the dried version.

Here is the recipe for the shorter version.

Pho Ga - Vietnamese Chicken Noodle Soup

Servings: Makes 4 servings

Ingredients:

For the Chicken Pho Broth:

• 2 tbsp. whole coriander seeds
• 4 whole cloves
• 2 whole star anise
• 2 quarts (2 liters/8 cups/64 fluid ounces) store-bought or homemade chicken stock
• 1 whole chicken breast (bone in or boneless)
• ½ onion
• 1 3-inch (7.5 cm) chunk of ginger, sliced and smashed with side of knife
• 1 to 2 tbsps. sugar
• 1 to 2 tbsps. fish sauce
• 1 lb. (500 grams/16 ounces) dried rice noodles (about ¼ inch/6 mm wide)

Accompaniments:

• 2 cups (200 grams/7 ounces) bean sprouts, washed and tails pinched off
• Fresh cilantro (coriander) tops (leaves and tender stems)
• ½ cup (50 grams/approx. 2 ounces) shaved red onions
• ½ lime, cut into 4 wedges
• Sriracha chili sauce
• Hoisin sauce
• Sliced fresh chili peppers of your choice

To make the Chicken Pho Broth:

1. Heat a frying pan over medium heat. Add the coriander seeds, cloves and star anise and toast until fragrant, about 3-4 minutes. Immediately spoon out the spices to avoid burning.
2. In a large pot, add all the ingredients (including the toasted spices) and bring to a boil.
   Reduce the heat to medium-low and let simmer for 20 minutes, skimming the surface frequently.
3. Use tongs to remove the chicken breasts and shred the meat with your fingers, discarding the bone if you have used bone-in breasts.
4. Taste the broth and add more fish sauce or sugar, if needed. Strain the broth and discard the solids.
5. Prepare the noodles as per directions on the package.
6. Ladle the broth into bowls. Then divide the shredded chicken breast and the soft noodles evenly into each bowl.
7. Have the accompaniments spread out on the table. Each person can customize their own bowl with these ingredients.

Potato & Leek Soup

Last night, I found some leek (possibly about 1+ weeks old) and potatoes (god knows how long) left over in my fridge. I usually only find time to go grocery shopping once every fortnight. So my fridge tends to be stocked with rather old veggies most the time.

It was however, enough to make my fav Potato & Leek soup. Perfect for these freezing winter nights. Here is the recipe. . .

Potato & Leek Soup

• 4 large potatos (peeled, sliced thinly)
• 1 leek (washed, white and light green parts sliced thinly - discard the rest)
• 1 medium onion (chopped)
• 1 piece of bacon (sliced & chopped)
• 2 cloves of garlic (smashed and chopped finely)
• 2 Cups of Chicken Stock (just enough to cover the potatoes)
• 1/2 Cup of Thickening Cream
• Fresh Herbs (Optional - But I had some chives leftover)
• Butter & Olive Oil
• Cayenne Pepper (for seasoning)
• Salt & Pepper to taste

1. In a soup pot, melt butter in olive oil over medium heat. Add Garlic, Bacon, Onions then Leeks. Sauté until onions are soft and starting to brown. Be careful not to over cook the leeks.
2. Add the potatoes and pour in enough stock to cover the potatoes. Add water if necessary. Continue cooking over medium heat until potatoes become transparent and soft. Use a potato masher to break up the potatoes slices.
3. Remove half the contents of the pot to a blender and process until desired consistency. Reduce to low heat.
4. Add the processed contents back into the pot and mix together. Add Cream and stir.
5. Stir in Chives and add salt & pepper to taste.
6. Serve soup and season with some cayenne pepper.

Enjoy ~ !

Soy Milk & Miso Hot Pot

We love our hot pots (or steamboats). Fish and Century old egg with coriander soup base. Satay hot pot... Ma-lak (super chilli hot) or even just plain chicken stock with some tomatoes and potatoes thrown in. Its probably one of the easiest things to prepare when you know you have a group of people that is going to come raid your apartment in the next hour. Which in my case, was exactly just that.

Soy Milk & Miso Hotpot
First tasted in Osaka, Japan - Recipe put together by Astrogirl

Soup Base

• 2 tablespoons Miso paste
• 1 piece of kombu
• 300 ml of unsweetened soy milk
• 2 L of water
• 2 tablespoon of dashi stock granules
• 2 tablespoon of Mirin
• 1 teaspoon of salt
• 1 tablespoon of sugar
• Soya sauce to taste (if required)
• 1 onion (sliced)
• 1/2 chinese white cabbage (sliced 5cm pieces)
• 2 green spring onion (in 5 cm pieces)
• 6 re-hydrated shiitake mushrooms (stems discarded, halved - optional)

Bring water and kombu to boil in large pot, add dashi and mirin. Then add mushrooms, onion, white cabbage and white parts of spring onion. Boil until cabbage has soften. Add in Miso paste, sugar and salt. Add in the soy milk right before serving and bring the soup back to a simmer. Serve the hot pot on top of a portable gas stove or in a shabu-shabu pot.

Other Ingredients to throw in:

• Defrosted cuttlefish \ pork \ fish balls
• Thinly sliced beef, fish or pork
• Shelled Prawns or any type of oyster, shellfish or molluscs
• Tofu
• crab stick
• fresh corn
• fresh mushrooms & Enoki mushrooms
• Fresh Fish paste (added in separate spoonsfuls)
• Vegetables (e.g. sliced carrot, coriander, spring onion, chinese radish or any other greens)

Taste the soup base and season with some soy sauce is required. It should taste a bit on the saltier side. Choose any combination from the 'Other Ingredients' list. For this hotpot, I added in some of the defrosted balls, crab stick, tofu and fish paste. Once it starts to boil add in all of the soy milk. And then turn the heat down. If you keep it boiling for too long, the soy milk will start to split.

Things to add at the end of the hotpot:

• Cooked plain white rice
• Mochi (glutinous rice cake)
• Egg
• Noodles (eg. instant, egg noodles, udon).

Nearing the end of the hotpot, when the soup base has absorbed the essence of all of the additional ingredients that was boiled in it... (Don't let this soup go to waste !)

You can poach an egg in the soup or spoon out some soup into a bowl and have it just like that. Or keep the soup bowling and add some rice or noodles into it. The 'japanese' way would be to have it with Mochi.

Notes:

• Dried shiitake mushrooms are available at nearly every asian grocery store. To re-hydrate them, rinse them under water to get rid of any dirt, then place them in a bowl of warm water with a smaller saucer on top to keep them under water. Best to keep overnight.
• Enoki Mushrooms needs to have the bottom brown parts (roots) trimmed and washed thoroughly.
• If you are preparing prawns for the hotpot, a good way to make sure they retain the 'fresh texture' and wont suffer any 'over-boiling', is to put the shelled prawns into a bowl of cold water with about 1-2 teaspoons of salt for about 30 mins. Pour out the water when ready.
• Raw meat like pork or beef is easier to slice if you leave it in the freezer for about 1 hr or so.
• The white powder substance on the Kombu is where most of the flavour is. Don't be tempted to wash it off.