Keeping Warm

I just went outside to check and, yes, it's still snowing. The whole concept of it snowing at the place where I live is a relatively new one for me. As someone whose sensory memories of snow have been largely fabricated from descriptions pulled out of children's books and memorable lines of poetry, I'm quickly held in thrall by even a few hours of coat-drenching sleet. Tonight I stood out in the darkness (which, with the street lights reflecting off the white on the ground, was really not that dark at all), and was held in awe by the astonishing stillness. How surprising, that a little change in the weather can make you feel like you're suddenly standing in some parallel universe and everything familiar is a billion light years away.



But I don't stay outside for long. Last winter's boots--which are soon headed for retirement--just aren't up to the challenge of the weather. Eventually I have to shun the cold and climb back under my kotatsu, a steaming mug of soy hot cocoa in my hands.

One handy remedy I've recently discovered for getting through these winter days is miso soup. It's especially good for those sluggish mornings where my blood can't seem to pump fast enough to get me out the door and to work on time. It's also surprisingly easy to make. After a little experimentation, I've settled on a vegetarian miso soup recipe that I can be satisfied with.


Vegetarian Miso Soup*

Makes 2 servings

Ingredients:

-one small piece of kombu
-four cups cold water
-eight or so little shriveled pieces of dried wakame
-tofu -- like, 100g or so -- cut into small cubes
-three green onions, chopped
-three tbsp red miso (or white is okay, too, just don't get the kind that already has dashi added to it [see note below])
-a dash of soy sauce (optional)
-a dash of sesame oil (optional)

Directions:

Place cold water in a pot. Clean the kombu with a damp clean cloth. Add it to the pot, and let soak for 30 minutes. Bring water to a boil, and remove the kombu. Set asside (you can use it again tomorrow morning!). Add the wakame. The wakame will rehydrate within a minute or two, but let it simmer for at least five minutes. Add the tofu and stir for a minute. Add the green onions. Remove from heat.

Here, I like to place a strainer over the pot and add the miso by pressing it through the strainer, as this makes it easier to mix it into the broth. Stir until dissolved. Add optional ingredients. Serve.

*But, wait: isn't all miso soup vegetarian? Well, no, it's not. A basic ingredient in miso soup is dashi, which is traditionally made with fish flakes. The Japanese put dashi into just about everything, so that it ends up in places you would never expect, like otherwise seemingly vegetarian soups and noodle broths. In this recipe, the boiled kombu serves as the dashi. There are other possible alternatives, such as dried shitake mushrooms, that I have yet to experiment with, and there is a trove of recipe resources on the Internet that I've yet to explore; I'm simply sharing the fruits of my own adventures in my own little kitchen.

I'm glad to know that it's easy to produce an animal free (and delicious) alternative to traditional miso soup preparation methods in my own home, especially since--as of today--I've embarked on a fresh mission to be a vegetarian. This means that I've had to cancel my school lunch plan and commit to preparing three meals a day in order to feed myself. I will keep you updated on the progress of this mission as it unravels.