Miso vegetable noodle soup

A light but substantial soup that is full of crunchy stir-fried vegetables and soft noodles surrounded by a hot, savoury miso broth. The dish contains both soya sauce and miso, both high in sodium so salt is generally unnecessary and I have not included it in the recipe. In fact additional flavouring is minimal as the soup takes advantage of the varied flavours of different vegetables.

Serves: 3

Ingredients

About 1 cup cooked rice noodles

½ a broccoli broken into small florets

1 small carrot, cut into thin long strips

4 spring onions, sliced diagonally

Mushrooms, halved and sliced thinly (I used chestnut mushrooms; if using very small mushrooms there is no need to halve them)

2 handfuls baby spinach leaves

1 teaspoon oil

1½ teaspoon finely chopped ginger

1-2 teaspoons soya sauce (I used tamari which has quite a strong flavour; use a larger amount if using a milder sauce)

For the miso broth:

1 cup/250 ml boiling water

1 ½ tablespoons miso (I used a dark miso so use more if you wish if your miso is light) mixed with ¼ cup/60 ml warm (but not very hot) water

Method

Heat the oil in a wok over a high and stir-fry broccoli, carrot, ginger and mushrooms for about 3 minutes. The mushroom will have begun to soften but other vegetables should be tender-crisp. Add the spring onions, spinach leaves and soya sauce and cook for another 1-2 minutes. 

The soup should be served as soon as possible after stir-frying the vegetables, otherwise they will lose their crispness. Heat the noodles if necessary. To prepare the broth, mix about ¼ -½  cup/ 60-125 ml cool water with the boiling water so that it is still hot but of a drinkable temperature, which will prevent the beneficial probiotics in miso from being destroyed as would happen at a high temperature. Place an equal amount of the vegetables in bowls for each serving and top with a portion of noodles. Pour about ½ cup of hot broth over the noodles and vegetables, stir if necessary and serve immediately.

Quinoa, sweet potato and broccoli with creamy pepper dressing

Another quinoa recipe that is very simple to make. It is inspired by the idea of a 'bowl', which generally comprises a few different components served together with a sauce poured on top. Usually there is something in the lines of a grain, a vegetable and a protein. In this recipe there is broccoli, starchy sweet potato and high protein quinoa with a nutty sauce.

Serves: 2-3

Ingredients
2 sweet potatoes
1 broccoli, broken into small florets and with the stems thinly sliced or chopped into small pieces
1/2 cup quinoa
1/2 onion, chopped
1/2 teaspoon oil

For the dressing:
2 tablespoons nut or seed butter (I used coconut-cashew nut butter, other good choices would be plain cashew nut butter, sunflower seed butter, almond butter and tahini - I would not recommend peanut butter in this dish as its flavour would be too strong)
1-1/2 tablespoons lemon juice
1 tablespoon vinegar (I used apple cider vinegar but use any of your choice that is not too strongly flavoured like balsamic vinegar)
1/2 teaspoon freshly ground or crushed black pepper
2-4 tablespoons of water

Method

Cook the quinoa according to package directions and drain if necessary. Cook the sweet potatoes by any method of your choice (I microwaved them), peeled and cut into 2 cm/ 3/4 in chunks. Prepare the dressing by mixing the pepper and lemon juice with the nut or seed butter until creamy. Add the vinegar and mix well. Dilute to a desired consistency, adding a little water at a time. It should be pourable with a spoon but not too thin as it would sink to bottom of the bowl. Heat the oil in a pan over a high heat and stir-fry the onion for 2-3 minutes. Add the broccoli and stir-fry for about 5 minutes, until the broccoli is tender crisp. Reheat the components if necessary and divide the quinoa, sweet potato and broccoli between the bowls for each serving. Serve drizzled generously with the dressing.