Miso Soup with Mustard Greens
What do vegetarians eat when they’re sick? Miso soup since your grandmother’s famous chicken noodle soup isn’t an option. We have to improvise.
Miso is a very simple broth to use in anything. It’s fermented bean paste, and it comes in a ton of varieties–gluten-free, white, red, spicy, mild… there are a ton of different kinds. Taste them all until you find one you like. If you’re at the regular grocery store, miso is a specialty item. Expect to pay a ton. I was at the Asian store yesterday and I got four three different types, red, white, and the Korean “miso,” doenjang.
I was going to call today’s soup Miso (me-so) Sick Soup because I’m home sick and miserable but I won’t be sick forever, and the recipe will still be here.
It’s one of the soups I make when I have a lot of stuff lying around. I thought I got baby bok choy at the Chinese market but I didn’t…they’re mustard greens. They taste wonderful in this soup, too.
Gluten Free: Use GF miso and GF tamari
Paleo: Sorry. Miso isn’t paleo, even the GF stuff, since it’s soy. But, you could use a beef, chicken, or fish broth instead and do the rest up nice. Skip the tofu.
Vegan: Skip the eggs.
Vegetarian: Of course!
Ingredients:
- sliced mushrooms
- chopped mustard greens
- bean sprouts
- julienned or spiral cut zucchini
- rice noodles
- 4 scrambled eggs
- 3T (or more) miso
- chunk of peeled ginger (about 1/2 inch)
- 5 cups water
- chopped tofu
- splash of tamari
- sesame oil for garnish
Directions:
- Sauté your sliced mushrooms. Add the greens, zucchini, and sprouts.
- Cook a couple minutes.
- Mash the miso into a bit of warm water to avoid lumps.
- Add the miso, water, ginger, and rice noodles, & tamari, and cook five or ten minutes until all the flavors mix.
- Add in tofu, and turn off the heat so the soup isn’t boiling.
- Swirl in the scrambled eggs.
- Pull out that big chunk of ginger before serving or someone’ll be sorry.