Easy Vegan Japanese Style Soup – HappyFood

The other day I just thought what better way to warm up in winter than rich umami flavours in a delicious vegan soup?

I spent nearly 4 months in Asia over the summer and since returning have been craving lots of the flavours that just aren’t found in many western dishes.

This dish is by no means authentic, it’s a recipe I concocted that’s both vegan and gluten free, 2 things not very common in miso soups and ramen as the broths are often flavoured with meat and fish elements, (like bonito flakes) and may use wheat based soy sauces.

I’ve tried to create rich savoury soup, by combining whatever flavours and ingredients I had in my cupboards, in the simplest way possible for a quick, easy, tasty vegan meal, that’s just my style.
This recipe is for a miso soup, served in a ramen style, with mushrooms and rice noodles, of course feel free to use regular ramen noodles if you prefer.

Miso paste contains natural probiotics, from the fermentation process, that can aid digestion. Ginger is another great food for the stomach, great if you’re feeling a bit iffy with a cold or flu. And of course this recipe is dairy free, gluten free and cruelty free 🙂

This recipe serves 2
Ingredients
200g button/ chestnut/shitake mushrooms finely sliced (whatever you have to hand)
1 medium white onion finely sliced
2 cloves of garlic, minced
2 thumb sized pieces if ginger, sliced into large strips
2-3 tbs of miso paste, whisked well into 6tbs of water (I used red miso paste which has stronger flavours, if unsure try yellow paste)
3 tbs of tamari soy sauce (use regular soy sauce if you do not require a gluten free version)
1/2 vegetable stock cube- dissolved in 1.5 L boiling water
1 tbs vegetable bouillon added to stock and water
250g soft tofu- diced into small cubes ( I used natural green brand, bought at the Asian market)
2 sheets of nori, sliced into halves (I didn’t have any kombu to hand for flavour)
2 spring onions, finely sliced, for garnish
1 tbs sunflower/rapeseed oil for frying
2 nests of rice noodles- soaked in boiling water, ready to eat
Method
Heat the oil in a deep saucepan, add the onions and cook on a medium heat, not allowing to brown.
Add the garlic making sure not to burn it.
Add the chopped mushrooms, and cover the pan with a lid to allow the moisture and flavour from the onions to come out, stirring regularly.
After 7-8 minutes when the mushrooms, garlic and onion have cooked down add the miso paste, soy sauce, nori sheets and stock to the pot.
Bring to a simmer, leave for 5 minutes.
Add the chopped tofu, just to heat for 2 minutes.
Remove the ginger and seaweed before serving.

To Serve
Put the rice noodles into 2 serving bowls and simply pour the soup over.
Garnish with chopped spring onions.
🙂