Dried Japanese Ramen (Vegetarian/Vegan)

This is real simple! What you need to do is to cook the Japanese Ramen based on the instruction given on the packaging. Using Vegetarian BBQ Sauce沙茶酱) to transform it to a bowl of palatable Dried Japanese Ramen. Add a bit of olive oil to the Ramen so that it does not stick together. Or add some vegetable stock to make it tastier. As for the topping, any ingredients you prefer. I like to use King Oyster Mushroom, as it is easily available and the price is reasonable, it gives some textures to this dish. Opt for Bailing Mushroom (which has the abalone texture) specially braised if prefer to give a more posh feel. Pair this with a decent small bowl of soup to make it perfect!

Preparation: 10 mins, Cooking time: 10 mins

Ingredients (serves 2)
° 2 Japanese Ramen, cooked
° 50g king oyster mushroom, sliced and blanced/cooked
° 10 slices carrot, for garnish
° some freshly spring onion, shredded or chopped
° Vegetarian BBQ sauce (沙茶酱) to taste

Method
1. Place the ramen in each individual bowl, top with the king oyster mushroom, spring onion, carrot and Vegetarian BBQ sauce. Serving bowls and serve immediately.

Scrumptious Japanese Ramen (Vegetarian/Vegan)

HA! I finally whipped up a bowl of delicious Japanese Ramen at home using whether ingredients that I can find in the refrigerator late last evening!

It is difficult to find Japanese Ramen here in Vegetarian or Non-Vegetarian eateries. In best Ramen eateries (non-vegetarian), the soup broth is a Big NO-NO for veg*n as it calls for pork bone or fish even if they offer Veggie Ramen or Mushroom Ramen! As for the Vegetarian eateries, there are serving China Ramen style and not the Japanese Ramen.

Use your own version vegetable stock or mushroom stock, if desired. I added a distinctive seasoning (e.g Vegetarian BBQ Sauce沙茶酱) to transform the quick vegetable broth into a restaurant-quality Ramen. As for the topping, be inventive and flexible, lady-finger, alfalfa with avocado, lettuce shreds, snow peas, veggies tempura, mint, nori, kelps, wolfberries, it can be any fine ingredients as long as it goes well with Ramen in taste and the whole presentation.

As for the broth, you can add cabbage or kelps or soy beans, and cook longer to extract the sweetness from these ingredients. For an impatient person like me, I chopped up the vegetable into small pieces and shorten it to half an hour. You can use miso, tom yum or whatever for the broth … feel like making another Ramen for lunch ...

Preparation: 10 mins, Cooking time: 40 mins

Ingredients (serves 2)
° 2 Japanese Ramen, cooked
° 50g king oyster mushroom, sliced
° 10 slices carrot, for garnish
° some freshly spring onion, shredded or chopped
° 4-6 pieces agedashi tofu or deep-fried tofu

Broth
° 2 stalks celery, sliced
° 1 (100g) carrot, sliced
° 6 seedless red dates
° 3 slices ginger

° 1 litre water
° salt to taste
° 1 tablespoon Vegetarian BBQ sauce (沙茶酱)or to taste

Method
1. Place the celery, carrot, red dates, king oyster mushroom, ginger and water in a pot. Bring to a boil and simmer for 25 minutes. Remove the king oyster mushroom and set aside. Discard the rest of the vegetable. Season to taste with salt and Vegetarian BBQ sauce.
2. Meanwhile, place the ramen in each individual bowl, top with the king oyster mushroom, agedashi tofu, spring onion and carrot.
3. Ladle the soup into individual serving bowls and serve immediately.

Cha Soba with Sweet Miso

If you are running out of time to prepare the sauce for cha soba, you can consider using this – sweet miso paste … Toss well, garnish with more shredded nori and sesame seeds before tucking in … Or you can divide this into 4-8 smaller portions and serve that as a appetizer.

By the way, the dipping sauce with grated diakon for Agedashi Tofu goes well with cha soba too. So, unleash your creativity and churn up some new recipes for cha soba! Explore and have some fun …

Preparation: 5 mins Total time: 5 mins

Ingredients (serves 1)
° 100g cha soba, cooked
° some roasted sesame seeds, for garnish
° some nori shreds, for garnish
° few slices spring onion or coriander leaves (optional), for garnish

Sweet Miso Paste
° ¾ tablespoon miso paste
° 1 tablespoon hot water
° 1 tablespoon sugar
° 1 tablespoon sesame oil

Method
1. To make the miso paste: combine all sauce ingredients in a bowl and mix well.
2. Place the cha soba on a serving plate and top with sweet miso paste.
3. Sprinkle some sesame seeds on it, garnish with spring onion or coriander leaves, nori shreds and serve.

Winter Melon Miso Soup

I felt so happy after making this soup and it looks beautiful and colourful – the pink flower, the green spring onion, the brown mushroom – the colour of the nature. Well, I got the idea of adding winter melon in miso soup after reading the post on Gastronomy Shojin Ryori is rather simple to make even without vegetarian miso at home, I can use soya bean paste for replacement. Just remember, you have off the heat prior to adding miso paste or soya bean paste. Add ½ teaspoon of sake or cooking wine to the soup, if desired.

The pink flower is optional. I have radish and beetroot at home, so I use those to make these pink flowers. If you have cookies cutting, it will be much easier to cut the shape of the flower. By soaking in beetroot slice and a bit of the juice, it make a lovely pink flower using natural colouring.

Preparation: 10 mins, Cooking time: 15 mins

Ingredients (serves 2)
° 75g sharkfin melon shreds
° few kelps shreds
° 2 dried Chinese mushrooms, soaked
° 1 slice ginger
° 2 slices radish (optional), peeled and cut into flower shape
° 2 slices beetroot (optional)
° 500ml water
° ¾ tablespoons soya bean paste or miso paste or to taste
° ½ teaspoon chopped spring onion or some fresh coriander leaves, for garnish
° ¼ teaspoon roasted sesame seeds, for garnish

Method
1. Place all the sharkfin melon, ginger, kelps shreds, mushroom, radish and water in a pot. Bring soup to a boil and simmer for 10 minutes.
2. Remove the radish slice and soak with the beetroot slices for 5 minutes to make pink flower.
3. Add the soya bean paste or miso paste to the soup.
4. Ladle into individual serving bowls, place the radish flower, garnish with sesame seed, spring onion or coriander leaves, and serve.

Sushi Wrap with Lettuce

I happened to read an old article on ‘Office pal-itics’ and surprise to read below:

“… But much like low-fat Vegetarian Food diet which is theoretically good for you, I can’t see much joy or laughter in such an existence. I would probably go mad.”

Well, Vegetarian Food is definitely good theoretically or not, and is getting interesting, fun and yummy as well. Now, the Vegetarian Food scene is going to be different from the past, it can storm the world if more energy has been channeled to explore in this area.

If you don’t believe me…., let take sushi for example! Must Sushi Rice be always wrapped with nori sheet, can’t it be eaten in another way. Now, you may even see more innovative ways in eating sushi – a bowl of sushi rice topped with some veggies, in some Sushi Cookbook.

My way of having sushi –a combination of Japanese Sushi and Korean Lettuce Wrap Rice. Just cook some rice and mix well vinegar, salt, sugar, mirin (optional) or get a pack of powdered sushi mix from the supermarket. Garnish with some toasted sesame seeds and finely chopped carrot (optional). Serve with some lettuce leaves and shredded nori.

To eat, just take a lettuce leaf, scoop some rice on it, top with shredded nori and wrap it up. Next just put it into your mouth! Fun and yummy!

Cha Soba or Cold Soba

Vegetarian Cha Soba has been on my To-Do List for more than a year, finally I cooked it few days back. Procrastination has been holding me back, it isn’t difficult at all, I just don’t know why.

For a vegetarian or vegan version, we need to cook the cold sauce or dipping sauce rather than get the ready-made sauce. I didn’t have Japanese Soy Sauce and mirni, I just make do with light soy sauce and cooking rice wine (omit the cooking rice wine, if desired). It was still yummy. For the left over ingredients, just use to a side dish – Seaweed Salad.

This dish is good for buffet or party food as you can prepare in advance. I remember seeing this dish at Equinox Hi-Tea Buffet, cold soba in a tea cup garnished with nori and spring onion, and the cold sauce in kept in a teapot – very presentable.

Preparation: 10 mins, Cooking time: 15 mins

Ingredients
° 100g cha soba, blanched and chilled in ice water
° finely shredded toasted nori, for garnish
° finely chopped spring onion (optional), for garnish

Cold Sauce
° 8 dried kelps in knot
° 2 dried Chinese mushroom or shiitake mushrooms
° 2 thin slices ginger
° 375ml water
° ¾ -1 tablespoon sugar
° 30ml shoyu (Japanese soy sauce) or light soy sauce, or to taste
° 30ml mirin or 10ml cooking rice wine

Method
1. To prepared the cold sauce: place the dried kelps, mushroom, ginger and water in a pot. Bring to a boil and simmer for 10-15 minutes. Add in sugar, shoyu, and mirin and simmer for 1 minute. The remaining stock is about 250ml. Discard the ingredients and set aside or chilled.
2. Divide the cha soba among 2 individual serving plates. Garnish with shredded nori and spring onion.
3. Serve with cold sauce.

Sushi

Half done sushi in a mould

Sushi again, more to come. It is so simple and fun to make.

Just prepare the rice with vinegar, salt and sugar. Next mixed the Japanese cucumber and Vegan mayo or vegetarian salad cream. Fill the rice in any sushi mould place the mayo cucumber in the centre and cover with more rice. Next remove from the mould and caot with toasted sesame seeds or Aonoriko seaweeds!

No sushi mould, do a hand formed sushi or a sushi ball. Actually, I don’t quite like the sushi mould I have in the picture, may want to get another type.

Corn Battleship Sushi

Oh, my corn battleship sushi does not resemble the battleship. I didn’t make the rice “oblong” enough in a hurry and it looks like sushi with some mayo corn topping. This sushi should be prepared just before serving as the nori turn soft rather quickly.

Preparation: 45 mins, Cooking time: 20 mins

Ingredients (makes 12)
° 200g rice, washed and drained
° 400ml water
° 1.5 tablespoons Japanese rice vinegar or apple cider vinegar
° 1 teaspoon sugar
° ½ teaspoon salt
° 3 sheets nori, toasted and cut into 4 equal strips
° 2 ears corn on the cob, cut or peeled kernels off the cob
° 2 tablespoons vegan mayonnaise or vegetarian salad cream, to taste

Method
1. Add the rice and water into an electric rice cooker and turn it on. When done, leave the cooked rice to rest, covered, for 5-10 minutes.
2. To make mayo corn, put the corn kernels in a heatproof serving plate and steam for 8-10 minutes. Remove from streamer and leave to cool. Mix well with mayonnaise.
3. In a bowl, combine the vinegar, sugar, salt and stir until dissolved. Using the rice paddle or spoon to spread the cooked rice. Stir in the combined vinegar, sugar and salt. Fold the rice to mix well and divide into 12 portions.
4. Wet your hand and pick up one portion of rice. Roll to form an oblong shape slightly less than 1 inch thick and place on a plate. Repeat with remaining rice.
5. Wrap a nori strip around each rice oblong and seal with 2 grain of rice at the edge.
6. Spoon some mayo corn onto all the rice and serve.

Avocado and Mango Temaki

Avocado & Mango Temaki with pickled sushi ginger

This is incredibly simple and delectable dish. As long as you can cook a pot of rice and cut avocado and mango, this dish is not a problem for you. Anyone can do it.

Preparation: 15 mins, Cooking time: 20 mins

Ingredients (makes 6)
° 200g rice, washed and drained
° 400ml water
° 1½-2 tablespoons Japanese rice vinegar or apple cider vinegar
° 1 teaspoon mirin or ½ teaspoon cooking rice wine (optional)
° 1 teaspoon sugar, or to taste
° ½ teaspoon salt, or to taste
° 6 sheets nori
° 1 ripe avocado, stoned, peeled and cut into 6 wedges
° 1 ripe mango, peeled and cut into 6 wedges
° some pickled sushi ginger
° some roasted sesame seeds (optional)

Method
1. Add the rice and water into an electric rice cooker and turn it on. When done, leave the cooked rice to rest, covered, for 5-10 minutes.
2. Add the vinegar, mirin, sugar and salt into the rice, and mix well. Taste it.
3. Place some rice on the nori sheet. Add avocado and mango slices. Fold into a cone shape and top with some sesame seeds. Repeat with the remaining ingredients to make 5 more rolls in the same way.
4. Garnish with some pickled sushi ginger before serving.

Avocado Sushi

Nothing new, just a combination of avocado, rice and pickled ginger. For this recipe, I used brown rice instead of plain rice or sushi rice, to replicate the colour of the avocado’s seed. After making these, I just feel like stuffing a ball of brown rice into the stoned avocado and serve with pickled sushi ginger. If you prefer, you can make it into Avocado Temaki (hand rolled sushi) and garnish with crispy fried shredded ginger, it is real simple.

Check this out: How to cut and peel an avocado

Preparation: 10 mins, Cooking time: 20 mins

Ingredients (makes 6)
° 200g brown rice or sushi rice, washed and drained
° 400ml water
° 2 tablespoons Japanese rice vinegar or apple cider vinegar
° 1 teaspoon mirin or ½ teaspoon cooking rice wine (optional)
° 1 teaspoon sugar, or to taste
° ½ teaspoon salt, or to taste
° ½-1 nori sheet, cut into 6 strips
° 1 ripe avocado, stoned, peeled and cut into 6 wedges
° some pickled sushi ginger

Method
1. Add the rice and water into an electric rice cooker and turn it on. When done, leave the cooked rice to rest, covered, for 5-10 minutes.
2. Add the vinegar, mirin, sugar and salt into the rice, and mix well. Fluff with a fork and divided into 6 portions.
3. Wet your hand and shape the rice into 6 balls. Alternatively, place rice on the cling plastic to and shape into a ball. Place one wedge of avocado over it and go round it with the nori strip to secure it. Tap some water at the end of the nori strip to seal it.
4. Serve with pickled sushi ginger.

Furikake (Vegetarian)

Aonoriko & Vegetarian Salted Fish

It is a bit difficult to get Vegetarian Furikake but no worries, you can come up with your own. I did it by using Vegetarian Salted Fish (from Vegetarian Shops), Aonoriko Seaweed (from Daiso) and Black and White Sesame Seeds.

Vegetarian Salted Fish, the ingredients: Beancurd Skin, Seaweed, Flour, Salt & Sugar

Macha Konnyaku Jelly (Green Tea Jelly)

My first taste of macha jelly was in the year 2000, when someone who is a big fan of Japanese stuff, made for us. She used those instant packs brought from Isetan Supermart, just add boiling water to it, mix well and chill in the refrigerator.

At that time, I find that the jelly look like so ugly – olive drab or hunter green in colour, first taste was like eating moss! However, after the first piece, I fell in love with it and can spent close to S$9 for just one pack that can only make around 1 litre. And I started making these unique jellies for my colleagues, and they like them too. Now with the below recipe, the cost is greatly reduced to less than S$2!

Preparation: 5 mins, Cooking time: 5 mins

Ingredients (makes 24 pieces)
° 1 packet (10g) konnyaku jelly powder
° 200g sugar, or to taste
° 950ml-1000ml water
° 4 teaspoons green tea powder, mixed with 30ml warm water

Method
1. Combine the konnyaku jelly powder with sugar and mix well. Set aside.
2. Bring water to a boil in a pot. Gradually stir in the konnyaku and sugar mixture, stirring and bring to a boil.
3. Remove pot from heat and continue to stir until bubble disappeared. Pour in the green tea paste and mix well.
4. Pour the macha jelly mixture into the jelly mould and leave to cool before refrigerating until chilled.
5. Serve chilled.

Vegan Green Tea Ice Cream (Macha Ice Cream)

Photographer: Little JF

Vegan ice cream making is so much simpler than those real ice creams where you need egg, milk, cream etc. It is almost instant, just place the ingredients in the blender to blend and next throw into an ice cream maker, that’s!

But, home made ice cream without ice cream maker? It is not impossible, there is a way, find out more at Making Ice Cream without Ice Cream Maker. Alternatively, following the recipe below, as I have streamlined the tedious process by skipping some steps and it still works.

Now, I would not miss my Uji Macha Ice (Japanese Green Tea Ice Cream), with this recipe, it is even healthier and cheaper.

Preparation: 10 mins

Ingredients (makes 250g±)
° 1 pack silken tofu
° 5-6 teaspoons sugar, or to taste
° 1 teaspoon green tea powder

Method
1. To extract excess moisture of the tofu for a creamier texture, wrap with a clean tea towel and place a plate on top of the tofu. Leave for about 15-30 minutes. Remove tofu from the towel.
2. Combine all the ingredients in a blender or food processor and blend until smooth and creamy. Taste it, add more sugar, if necessary and blend to mix well. Pour into different containers and place in the freezer until frozen.
3. Prior to consuming the ice cream, remove the ice cream from the freezer and place in the refrigerator shelf for 1 hour (to slightly soften it).
4. Place in a blender, blend until smooth. If you can’t wait, just eat it. Alternatively, place in the freezer for 30 to 60 minutes before consuming, depending on your preference for a softer or harder consistency of the ice cream.

Agedashi Tofu

A simple yet scrumptious dish where the soft tofu is coated with corn flour or potato starch and deep-fried briefly. For the sauce, I have substitute the ingredients with those we can commonly find in our kitchen rather than using the shoyu(Japanese soy sauce), sake and mirin. Grated daikon is called for in this dish but I have totally omitted it to make the recipe simpler to cook. Add grated daikon, if desired (sauce on the right side of the photo with daikon added).

Preparation: 5 mins, Cooking time: 15 mins

Ingredients (serves 2)
° 1 (300g) pack silken tofu
° corn flour or potato starch, for coating
° oil, for deep-frying
° 1 teaspoon sesame oil (optional), for deep-frying
° finely shredded spring onion, for garnish
° 2 thin slices ginger, finely chopped

Sauce
° 30ml water or dashi stock
° 1 teaspoon sugar
° 1 tablespoon light soy sauce
° 5ml cooking rice wine

Method
1. To extract excess moisture of the tofu, wrap with a clean tea towel and place a plate on top of the tofu. Leave for about 15 minutes. Remove tofu from the towel, cut into 8 or 16 pieces and lightly coat the tofu with corn flour or potato starch.
2. Heat oil and sesame oil in a deep-fryer or wok over high heat or until a cube of bread dropped into the oil brown in few seconds. Deep fry tofu until lightly golden brown. Remove the tofu with a slotted spoon. Drain well on kitchen paper.
3. To make the sauce: add 30ml water with sugar in a pot and bring to a boil. Stir in cooking rice wine, light soy sauce and ginger.
4. Transfer the tofu to a serving plate and garnish spring onion. Drizzle the sauce over the tofu or serve as dipping sauce. Serve immediately.

Udon Noodle Soup

This udon noodle soup usually uses dashi broth (consist of konbu - kelps and katsuobushi - dried bonito flakes) and topped with tempura fritter. In here, this recipe utilizes the kelps and mushrooms to make the dashi soup base. Just add some vegetables tempura or agedashi tofu, if desired.

Preparation: 5 mins, Cooking time: 20 mins

Ingredients (serves 2)
° 8 dried kelps in knot
° 4 shiitake mushrooms, sliced or halved
° 2 thin slices ginger
° 750ml water, for soup base
° 1 teaspoon sugar
° ½ teaspoon salt, or to taste
° 30ml shoyu (Japanese soy sauce) or light soy sauce, or to taste
° 30ml mirin or 10ml cooking rice wine
° 750ml water, for cooking udon
° 2 packs (400g) udon noodle
° finely shredded spring onion, for garnish
° shichimi togarashi (optional), to serve

Method
1. Place the dried kelps, mushroom, ginger and water in a pot. Bring to a boil and simmer for 10-15 minutes. Add in sugar, salt, shoyu, and mirin and simmer for 1 minute.
2. Meanwhile, place the udon in a pot or wok of lightly salted boiling water and cook for 5 minutes or until tender. Drain the noodle thoroughly and divide among 2 individual serving bowls. Garnish with spring onion.
3. Ladle the soup into individual serving bowls, sprinkle with spring onion, shichimi togarashi and serve immediately.

Tip
1. Substitute shichimi togarashi(seven-spice mix) with chilli powder and a few lightly toasted black and white sesame seeds, if desired.

Tempura Vegetable Fritters

Combining chopped vegetables and tempura batter to make lacy, feather-light and a slightly see through crispy vegetable fritters. Serve with a small bowl of tempura dipping sauce with finely grated daikon (radish) and ginger.

Preparation: 15 mins Cooking time: 20 mins

Ingredients (serves 2-3)
° 50g carrot, peeled and cut into short lengths
° 50g white radish, peeled and cut into short lengths
° 6 French beans, tailed and cut into short lengths
° 2 shiitake mushrooms, sliced
° 25g tempura batter mix
° ¼ teaspoon salt, or to taste
° 50ml ice cold water
° oil, for deep-frying
° 1 teaspoon sesame oil (optional), for deep-frying

Tempera Dipping Sauce
° 4 dried kelps in knot
° 150ml water
° 20ml miri or 10ml cooking rice wine
° 25ml shoyu or 35ml light soy sauce
° 20g daikon, peeled, finely grated and squeezed to remove excess liquid
° 1 teaspoon fresh ginger, finely grated

Method
1. Place all the julienned vegetables in a bowl. Add the tempera batter mix, salt, water and mixed well.
2. Heat oil and sesame oil in a deep-fryer or wok over high heat or until a cube of bread dropped into the oil brown in few seconds. Drop a heaped tablespoon of the mixture into the hot oil and fry in batches until lightly golden brown.
3. Remove the vegetable fritters with a slotted spoon. Drain well on kitchen paper and keep warm in the oven until ready to serve.
4. Place the dried kelps and water in a small pot to make vegetarian dashi stock. Bring to a boil and simmer for 10 minutes or until 100ml stock left in the pot. Stir in mirin, shoyu and reduce the heat to low and keep warm until ready to serve with grated daikon and ginger.

Tip
1. Use fresh batch of oil and ensure that the deep-fryer or wok is filled with one-third full of oil for deep frying.
2. For every 150g of julienned vegetables, use 25g of tempura batter mix and 50ml of ice cold water.
3. Stir in ¼ teaspoon of sugar if light soy sauce is used for the dipping sauce, if desired.
4. Curry powder can be added to the batter, if desired.

Nori Rice

This is just another way to add some flavoring to the white rice, if it is too plain for your tastes. It can be shaped into a ball to make Nori Rice Ball with or without filling.

Preparation: 5 mins Cooking time: 20 mins

Ingredients (serves 2)
° 200g rice, washed and drained
° 400ml water
° 1.5 tablespoons Japanese rice vinegar or apple cider vinegar
° 1 teaspoon mirin or ½ teaspoon cooking rice wine
° 1 teaspoon sugar
° ½ teaspoon salt
° 1 nori sheet, toasted and finely shredded
° 2 teaspoons rice seasoning (optional)

Method
1. Add the rice and water into an electric rice cooker and turn it on.
2. When done, leave the cooked rice to rest, covered, for 5-10 minutes.
3. Pour on the combined vinegar, mirin, sugar and salt. Fluff with a fork, and fold in the shredded nori. Keep warm and serve hot.

Tip
1. Few kelps in knots can be added to cook the rice, if desired.

2. How to toast norisheet and How to make rice seasoning.

Home-made Rice Seasoning

Preparation: 5 mins Cooking time: 25 mins

Ingredients (makes 75g)
° 2 nori sheets, toasted and finely shredded
° 3 tablespoons white sesame seeds, roasted
° 3 tablespoons black sesame seeds, roasted
° ¾-1 teaspoon ichimi or chilli powder
° 1 teaspoon salt

Method
1. Combine all the ingredients and mix well in a bowl.
2. Store the rice seasoning in a container and in a cool place.

Tip
1. How to toast n roast sesameseeds and How to toast nori sheet
2. Ichimi is small, hot, red Japanese chilli available fresh and in various dried forms--rounds, flakes and powder.

Vegetarian Miso Soup

Miso soup is a traditional Japanese soup consisting of a stock called "dashi" into which is mixed with softened miso paste. Usually, dashi broth and miso paste contains bonito, therefore fine salted soy bean paste with kelp or shiitake mushroom vegetarian dashi stocks can be used for making the vegetarian miso soup.

Preparation: 5 mins Cooking time: 15 mins

Ingredients (serves 2-3)
° 9-10 dried kelps in knot
° 2 thin slices ginger (optional)
° 750ml water
° 100g silken tofu, diced
° ¾ -1 tablespoon fine salted soy bean paste
° ½ tablespoon light soy sauce (optional)
° finely chopped spring onion or coriander leaves, for garnish

Method
1. Place the dried kelps, ginger and water in a pot. Bring to a boil and simmer for 10-15 minutes. Remove from the heat, stir in salted soy bean paste, light soy sauce and tofu.
2. Ladle the soup into individual serving bowls, garnish with spring onion or coriander leaves and serve immediately.

Tip
1. Dried kelps can be soaked, drained, cut into smaller pieces prior to be used in the soup, if desired. Or it can be discarded after simmering.
2. Soak ½ teaspoon of dried wakame seaweed in cold water for 5 minutes until rehydrated, drain well and added to soup, if desired.
3. Adding light soy sauce to substitute for fish sauce and to enhance the soup with some colour and taste.
4. Be careful not to boil the miso soup as this will diminish the flavour of the miso.

Steamed Tofu with Ginger and Spring Onion

This quick and easy steamed tofu is a delicious dish. Using chilled tofu, instead of steaming it to makes a special starter, if desired.

Preparation: 10 mins Cooking time: 5 mins

Ingredients (serves 2-3)
° 1 pack silken tofu, cut into quarters
° ¼ fresh red chilli, seeded and finely shredded
° 2 thin slices ginger, finely grated or chopped
° 1 spring onion or coriander leaves, for garnish
° 2 teaspoons lightly toasted sesame seeds (optional)
° ½ teaspoon olive oil
° ½ teaspoon sesame oil
° 1 tablespoon light soy sauce

Method
1. Place the tofu in a heat proof serving plate and steam for 5 minutes.
2. Garnish steamed tofu with ginger, spring onion, chilli and sprinkle some sesame seeds.
3. Drizzle with oils, light soy sauce and serve immediately.

Tip
1. Heat the oils in a wok, add ginger and stir-fry briskly until aromatic for drizzling, if desired.