Vegeterianism

Wakame is a strong seaweed. It is too strong for some people who have not grown up with it. Here is a great way to enjoy it. First a warning about wakame, it expands to many, many times its dry size when re-hydrated. Be very conservative the first time you use it. Most health food and Japanese/Asian stores sell it already cut into little 3/4" squares and dried into tiny "crumbles". This is the best kind to use. If you buy it in "sheet" form you will have to hydrate it and then cut it into squares which adds time to the recipe.

Bring the water to a slow boil. Put the wakame in the water and let it slowly simmer for 20 minutes. The longer you simmer it the less sharp its taste will be. If you are cooking daikon, carrots, or onions, put them in for around the last 10 minutes for onions and daikon and about the last 5-6 minutes for the carrots. I slice the daikon into "half moons" fairly thin. The thicker the cut the longer the daikon takes to cook. Most Japanese people like their daikon pretty soft in miso soup.

Now comes the miso. There are many, many kinds of miso. The white miso sold in many stores is akin to white rice. Brown miso is akin to brown rice. Which you use is entirely up to your taste and nutritional inclinations. I personally feel (not backed up by anything but my own opinion) that the brown miso is healthier but the white miso tastes better. Some people feel hatcho miso is the best nutritionally. Your mileage will vary.

Once the vegetable mixture is cooked, make sure it is cooking at a slow simmer. Here's a little secret. Take a small strainer and place it just in the soup. Take spoonfuls of miso and mash them through the strainer into the soup. This is way better than plopping miso into the pot and trying to distribute it evenly. Many people feel that cooking miso destroys the favorable digestive enzymes. But two people whose opinions I really respect are in favor of cooking the miso into the soup for a short period of time (1 minute). If you are using tofu, put it in now, you needn't cook it, just get it up to soup temperature.

Garnish with the chopped green onions and serve. My mother always gave me miso soup when I was sick. It's the modern day vegetarian's "chicken soup".

If you want to have miso soup over a few days, put miso only in the portion of the vegetable soup that you wish to eat at that time. It keeps better without the miso in it. Traditionally, Japanese people have miso soup more in the morning than the evening so you may want to experiment with having this for breakfast with a little rice and pickled vegetables. Enjoy!

This recipe is fast and easy to prepare. It is good sliced and added to veggies or put on bread for lunches. It is a little spicey, so some kids may not like it.

Prehead the oven to 300. Slice the tofu the long way to make slabs. Cover the bottom of a jelly roll pan with 1/4 inch of sauce. Put the tofu on top. Cover the tofu with sauce. Just make sure the tofu is covered, you don't have to drown it. Put it in the oven and cook for about 2 hours. If you like your tofu very firm, cook longer. Check every now and then to make sure nothing is burning. I've never had a problem with that, but but ovens are all different.

Nutrition Information: Ingredients in Bullseye: Tomato puree, corn syrup, molasses, vinegar, salt, food starch, natural hickory smoke flavor, mustard, flour, onion, spice, garlic. (not too bad, for all that flavor)