As I ’ve been a bit under the weather lately, I’ve noticed my desire to cook meals has wained and almost diminished completely the last week. Enough! This recipe brought me back to the kitchen with it’s promise of nourishment, comfort, and mild flavors. Making a good miso soup really depends on the flavor and quality of the miso you use. I found a new soy-free miso paste called Chickpea Miso that has a great mild and sweet taste that performs really well in soups. Any white or yellow miso will fit the bill for this healing soup. 

Miso Vegetable Soup

6 C filtered water

½ onion, slivered thin rounds

1 celery stalk, chopped

½ C chopped carrots

2 large mushrooms, chopped

scant ¼ C dried wakame, soaked in water to expand for a minute or two

1 C broccoli florets

6 Tsp chickpea miso or miso paste, thinned with a bit of boiling water

few pinches sea salt, as needed

Bring water, onions, and celery to a boil and cook until onions are translucent. Add carrots, mushrooms, wakame and cook a few minutes more. Add broccoli and miso paste and cook just a couple minutes so that broccoli remains bright green and crisp looking. Add salt to taste and garnish with green onion or cilantro if desired. 

Food Facts:  Miso soups tend to be mild or even bland in flavor. This property, along with the fermented miso paste, warm broth, and cooked vegetables make it a perfect healing soup for the digestion and gut. Any person suffering from poor digestion, weakness, fatigue, inability to absorb nutrients or assimilate food well will benefit from a soup such as this. The mild/bland flavor is characteristic of the Earth element in Chinese medicine, which houses the Spleen and Stomach organs that govern digestion.