Miso Soup

The People's Food Co-op got new bulk miso! For the past two years that I have been buying miso from them, they have had white miso in bulk. White miso is much milder than other misos and is sometimes called sweet miso. This is really good for making dressings but I definitely prefer a darker full-flavored miso.

This past Saturday my world got flipped upside down. Red Adzuki Bean Miso:

Basic Kombu Dashi
Dashi is a basic Japanese soup stock that can be made with kombu, bonito flakes, sardines, and/or dried shiitaki mushrooms. Here's a recipe for the kombu one. Kombu is a type of sea vegetable (can be bought in bulk at the People's Food Co-op).

Directions:
Soak kombu in cold water for 30 minutes in a pot.
Bring water to an ALMOST boil.
Remove kombu from water right before it boils.
Done.

Miso Soup (with Daikon, Carrot, Mushrooms, and Wakame)
There are a bajillion ways to make miso soup. You can put just about anything in it as long as you end with adding miso in. Here's my miso today!

Ingredients:
dashi (recipe above)
3 daikons (1)
greens from 1 daikon (1)
1 carrot (2)
a handful of dried mushrooms (3)
a handful of wakame (4)
4 T red or brown miso (amount depends on how much dashi you start with) (4)

Directions:
Soak dried mushrooms and wakame separately in water to rehydrate.
Heat dashi to a simmer.
Cut daikons in half length-wise, thinly slice into half moons and drop into simmering dashi.
Thinly slice carrot and drop into simmering soup.
Once daikon and carrots are cooked (soft to the touch) add in wakame and mushrooms.
Remove daikon greens from their stem and drop into simmering soup.
Allow to cook for a couple more minutes and then remove from heat.
Dilute miso with an equal amount of water.
Add miso to soup once it cools a bit.*
Enjoy!

*Letting the soup cool before adding the miso is an important step. Miso is a fermented bean paste so if you add it to simmering water, you will kill all of the happy bacteria that is so good for you!

(1) From Whole Foods Market, labelled as "Local" because they bought it from a farm in MI
(2) Left over from making snowmen yesterday :)
(3) I dried these myself from the fall. I believe I bought them from Tantre Farm originally...
(4) Bulk section of the People's Food Co-op

Miso for Breakfast

A couple of weekends ago I ventured north of campus to spend the morning and make breakfast with a dear friend of mine, Darshan Karwat. Darshan is a really cool guy, doing really cool things. For one thing, he's getting a decent amount of press for his current commitment to living a zero waste lifestyle. Yes, that's right, zero waste.

This commitment began in March and so far he's created about 2 pounds of trash. Let's compare that to the "average American" who produces about 3-4 pounds of trash PER DAY.

Darshan has been collecting all of the trash that he creates, not including TP or food scraps (which he composts). So this includes a straw that a waitress brought to him with his glass of water one night at a restaurant and every sticker on every piece of fruit he eats. For him, every piece of trash now has a story and evokes a memory.

One main way that Darshan has significantly lowered his trash is by buying local and in bulk. Therefore he's very familiar with both the Ann Arbor farmer's market and the People's Food Co-op. Also, he has become very open about his lifestyle choice at restaurants. Explaining to the waitress what he is doing and asking for no straws, disposable silverware, or napkins, etc.

Please visit Darshan's blog, Minimizing Entropy, to read more about what he is doing. He has tips and recommendations for how to reduce your waste. He also challenges readers to collect all the trash that you produce in 1 day, week, month, etc. and carry around with you!

Darshan has written an article for the Michigan Daily here.

He has also been featured in:

Lansing State Journal

Annarbor.com

Fosters

So anyways, it was waaay too early on a Sunday morning. Therefore, I felt obligated to capture the mood of the very grey, very misty morning. (I think that the fact that I am judging myself for posting these pictures is a very bad testament for the fact that I AM posting them...)

Annnndddd I hope that whoever lives here, sees this. Yes, yes I am creepin' on you...

The kind of unconventional breakfast that was decided on was Miso Soup! And gosh do I love Miso. Miso is essentially fermented soybeans. Salty and delicious. So anyways...

Miso Soup

Wakame. Mmm, you know I love sea veggies.

Darshan's onion choppin' in action.

Ingredients: (and oh gosh, these are an estimate)

8 c + 4 T water

1 c wakame, rehydrated in 1 c water

1 onion, sliced

2 c dried shitake mushrooms, rehydrated and chopped

2 carrots, chopped

2 handfuls of spinach

4 T miso

Why yes, chop sticks are keepin' the asian moood.

Directions:

Bring 8 c water to a boil.

Reduce to a simmer and add in onions and carrots.

Add in wakame and mushrooms.

Add in spinach.

Once all ingredients are cooked through, softened, add in the spinach.

Dissolve Miso in 4 T water.

When spinach starts to wilt, pour Miso mixture into soup.

Remove from heat, garnish and serve.

Garnish options:

chopped scallions

toasted sesame seeds

fried soba noodles

garnish of choice!

And yet it does not end there. This day was a day of new experiences for me. Tea-wise. Everyone knows the words "Earl Grey." But I doubt that many know what those words actually mean... (And I will allow you to explore (google?) as you wish).

Working at a cafe, one would think that experiencing Earl Grey tea would be assumed of any employee. But there were no assumptions for me. And no Earl Grey... Until now.

My first Earl Grey experience!:

So beautiful. But still not... my cup of tea... (Yes, I am embracing that pun). And I am not a black tea fan. But that's personal preference. I can totally see a black tea  lovah to loving Earl Grey. However I am not there yet.

Domo Arigato, Mr. Roboto!

Carrot. Celery. Pea sprouts.

I love japanese food. I really really do. You just can't go wrong with ginger, miso, tamari, soba noodles... And sea vegetables! Don't think you're familiar with sea veggies? You probably are and just don't realize it! If you've ever eaten sushi you have encountered the most popular form of sea vegetable: Nori. But it does not stop there, just like land vegetables there is a wide variety of their sea siblings. Hiziki, kombu, wakame...

Problems that are too obvious not to mention:
A: NOT LOCAL! I'm living off a decently large supply that I luckily already stocked up on pre-challenge. Yes, Eden is a Made in Michigan brand, however it advertises right on the package how the hiziki is "harvested from pristine waters off eastern Japan" and the arame is "cultivated off the environmentally protected west shore of Ise Bay."
B: Terribly wasteful packaging. At least based off of the one's in my cupboard which contain about 1-2 oz. per package...

But until my stock runs out, they're salty, delicious and oh so good for you.

Sushi
Think of this recipe as sushi 101. There is no specific recipe for sushi because you can roll up just about anything! Be creative, try a bunch of variations and you'll find out your own preference.

Ingredients:
nori
5 c brown rice, cooked*
1/4 c rice vinegar (for 5 c rice, use 1/4 c vinegar)*
1 T sugar (optional)*
1 t salt*
fresh vegetables (cucumbers, peppers, sprouts...)
steamed vegetables (asparagus, sweet potato...)
tofu

Directions:
Mix together the rice vinegar, sugar, and salt and pour over rice.
Prepare your add-ins: slice veggies, marinate tofu, cook other veggies...
Place a sheet of nori on a bamboo sushi mat and spoon on/spread rice until about 2/3 of the sheet is covered.
Place your add-ins in the middle of the sheet.
Roll it up! (This is surprisingly challenging. Check out this video for tips!)
Cut the rolls into 2 inch pieces using a wet, SHARP knife. If you don't have a sharp knife (which I don't...) you may have to resort to a very-little-pressure, sawing method.

Serve with any of the following: soy sauce, wasabi, toasted sesame seeds, chopped green onions, pickled ginger, hot sauce...

*These measurements are more for proportional reasons. So unless you want to end up with many rolls of sushi,  make less than 5 c of rice and decrease other measurements proportionally.