Carrot, Cabbage, Dulce and Ginger Miso soup with Crispy Tofu and Pak Choi

 Crispy topping:

Half a packet of plain firm tofu, cubed into about 3.5mm cubes

Enough tamari for the tofu to soak up nicely

Two teaspoons of dried ginger powder

Toasted sesame oil, enough to cover the bottom of your best frying pan

About the same amount of pak choi as tofu, sliced into thick enough slices to keep a good bite

A subtle squeeze of fresh lemon juice

Soup:

½ an onion, finely sliced

4 small carrots, or 2 big ones, grated

A large fist sized amount of cabbage

A handful of dried dulce seaweed, soaked as per instructions on packet and sliced thinly

A bit more than an inch of fresh ginger

A tablespoon or so of genmai miso

Marinade the tofu pieces in tamari and ginger powder for at least 10 minutes. If you want extra crispiness then squeeze as much water out of the tofu first. Some people use elaborate contraptions of tea towels and heavy things. I used my hand.

Fry this on a medium heat, ideally using a pan big enough for the tofu cubes to not be touching its little tofu neighbours. It should get nicely crispy after ten minutes or so.

Boil the onion and carrot in plenty of water until it’s soft and has exciting looking orange foam.  Add the cabbage and seaweed and let them soften too.

At this point, throw in the pak choi with the tofu and give it a shake. I see you baby.

Take away a bit of the water and mix it with the miso. Mix it up until it’s dissolved and pour back into the soup just before eating time. Boiling miso reduces its nutritional value, which is something really rather special, so I advise you keep as much of it as possible by avoiding boiling miso. Some people claim that miso reduces the risk of high blood pressure, although it’s pretty salty so you’d have to conscious of sodium intake in the rest of your diet. I used genmai miso which is made from brown rice, and has a nice sweet flavour which goes really well with the ginger here.

Shake your tofu and pak choi some more and when it’s crisped to perfection sprinkle just a bit of lemon juice over it.

Mix the miso stock into the soup, ladle it out and top with crispy tofu and pak choi.

 

“The best soup I’ve ever had.” Ian Cole, 22 March 2012, 7.19pm.

“Pretty good for a using-things-up soup.” Gwen Rowland, 22 March 2012, 7.20pm.

Yes, I’m smug about this one. Try it and you’ll see why.