Miso, tofu, buckwheat noodle soup

Simple dish with humble flavors. Even my hubby whom dislikes tofu loves this use of it. Basically it's the classic miso soup with add ons.

If you can find 100% buckwheat noodles then your creating a gluten free dish. 

Dinner or lunch for 2: 

1/2 courgette 

2-4 stalks of fresh spring onions

handful of fresh coriander/cilantro leaves 

3 tbsp heaped miso paste 

800 ml water 

7-8 shiitake mushrooms 

200grams plain or smoked tofu 

1/2 or 3/4 pack of buckwheat noodles 

* optional: flakes of dried nori (dried seaweed)

1. Bring the water & miso paste to a boil, whisking the miso to loosen the paste. 
2. Meanwhile, chop the courgette, tofu, shiitake and the white ends of the spring onions into blocks. of 2x2cm.
3. Add the veggies + tofu to the water & miso.
4. Cook on a low simmer for 10min.
5. Bring water to boil for the noodles. Cook according to the noodle package, taking off 1min of the cooking time as they will continue to cook when in the soup. I usually add a little oil to the noodle water as they usually easily stick to each other once they come out of the water. 
6. Sieve the noodles. taste the soup. Place the noodles in the bottom of the bowls then top with the soup.
7. Finally add the green ends of the spring onions and the coriander leaves. 

Chorizo Black Bean Soup

This time of year has turned into soup making season for me. When I was a kid I always thought soup was boring and wouldn't keep me full long enough. Just goes to show how life brings about new opinions. I now love soup. For all the warmth, diversity and last but not least for the long lasting contentment it can bring. I also just love that really you can create an amazing dish that gets better the day after with boring old, saggey veggies and leftovers.

Here is a new recipe I made up because I had fresh chorizo, chickepeas and black beans in the fridge. Left overs from Huevos Rancheros....see recipe in an earlier post (well worth the time & effort).

You could skip the chorizo and replace it with smoked tofu as long as you make sure to add lots of Spanish smoked paprika powder. Same stuff they put in chorizo that brings that amazing orange/red color and smokey flavor.

Easy Peasy Japanese

This dish was introduced to me via a good friend and she picked it up from her mother. Its one of my favorite dishes because it's super easy to make, it feels nutritious and wholesome and because it includes rice which I could eat for breakfast, lunch, snack and dinner, in-fact once upon I did exactly that. Way back when....

My friend taught me to use salmon for this dish but I imagine you could also sure tuna steak or beef. And you would marinate and cook it in much the same way as with the salmon, only perhaps slightly longer? Give it a try and let me know how it goes.

Here is what you need to make the dish for 2 people:

2-4 sheets of nori seaweed (same used to roll sushi in)
400-600 grams fresh salmon (tuna steak, tofu or beef)
2 tbsp Japanese soy sauce
1 tbsp sesame oil or safflower oil
0,5-2 tsp wasabi paste (amount depends on how much of a fire heat you want)
2,5 dl rice*
400-500 grams green beans
optional - roasted sesame seeds (buy sesame seeds with their sell still on and toast/roast them in a dry pan till they start popping and smell toasted. place to cool somewhere before putting in a glass jar or tupperware).

* I used brown basmati rice, usually I prefer round brown rice as its slightly sticker as with white sushi rice. You can also use regular white rice, but make sure its good quality either pandan or basmati or real sushi rice.