Kiri's Vegetable MIso Soup

A couple of weeks ago I was lucky enough to spend a weekend at the beautiful Aio Wira Retreat Center, tucked away in the peaceful surroundings of the Waitākere Ranges at a Wellness Retreat facilitated by Kiri from Re:balance Natural Medicine, which was brilliant. I felt totally renewed by Sunday afternoon!

The food Kiri shared with us - and encouraged us all to help prepare - focused on whole, seasonal, vegetarian ingredients.

This vegetable miso soup was served for dinner on the second night of our retreat. It was so comforting and full of flavour, I hope you love it as much as I do.

From Kiri ...

I recently ran a Wellness Retreat weekend at Aio Wira in West Auckland. I love spending time out there. Getting back into nature & using the time to reset my eating, thinking & stress levels.

It's a great place to destress & reset surrounded by the beautiful Waitakere bush & birdlife, spending time with lovely likeminded people taking time out to replenish.
I was lucky enough to lead a fabulous bunch on the retreat.
Part of what I love about running retreats is cooking for people. Healthy tasty natural food is one of my passions. I love preparing & assisting people to healthier eating patterns.

On the Saturday night a prepared miso soup for everyone. It was interesting making soup for nearly 20 people. I grew up in a commercial kitchen so am not daunted by making food for many.

I had many request the recipe. I don't really use recipes, having been cooking for my whole life. But here's it is :)

I kept the scraps of vegetables from the day in a pot and made stock by just covering with water & simmering covered for an hour.

I used kumara which isn't traditional, but added some carbohydrates for hungry retreaters. I would've used an all purple kumara if I had found one, which are eaten in Japan. Miso is a traditional Japanese soup made from fermented soy bean paste, which has a lovely salty umami savouriness. Being fermented it is a great way to add natural probiotics to your diet.

Make sure to get a quality miso paste. This one was Ceres organic. My favourite is the Urban Hippie, who also makes a lovely Miso-mite (substitute for Marmite). Miso shouldn't be added to the hot soup when it is still on the heat, as the heat will kill the good bacteria. Cook the soup/broth until ready, then turn off the heat and let cool a little before adding the miso paste. With smaller amounts you can add it to the individual bowls. However due to serving so many people I added it to the pot.

Kiri's Vegetable Miso Soup

Serves 6-8

Ingredients

Miso paste 1 tbsp per person (to taste, more or less depending on strength of flavour you prefer)

1 onion finely diced

4 sticks of celery diced

1-2 carrots diced

1 beetroot diced (optional, not traditional)

1 small kumara diced (optional)

6 shiitake mushrooms (can use button or other chinese mushrooms)

1 handful of wakame seaweed soaked

2 tbsp extra virgin olive oil (not traditional) or other cold pressed oil or quality fat

 Thumb sized Tumeric (finely chopped or 1-2 tsp ground, optional, not traditional)

3-4 sliced of ginger

Dash of liquor (gin, sake, cooking rice wine) (optional)

Handful of fresh greens per person; kale, spinach, cabbage, broccoli, chinese greens, wash, trimmed & cut to smallish pieces.

To serve

1-2 spring onions finely chopped

A decent handful of coriander loosely chopped

3 tsp functional mushrooms (I used, Maitake, Shiitake, Reishi, Turkey tail, Lion's mane)

3 clove garlic finely chopped, added just before serving

Toasted sesame oil

Dash of white pepper

Method

Prepare all the veg, dice onions, carrots, other root veg, celery.

Chop the greens, ginger & spring onions.

Heat a large heavy bottom pot, add oil & saute diced onions, for a few minutes, then add celery & carrots other root vegetables if using them. Continue to cook stirring. Add ginger & turmeric if using. 

After about 5 minutes add liquor, 2 litre of water or stock, wakame & water from soaking (take care not to add any grit in the bottom of bowl you have soaked seaweed in) & shiitake & powdered mushrooms (or you can add these individually at the end to each bowl. Bring to the boil then cover & simmer until root vegetables are al dente.

Turn off the heat. 

Add greens till just cooked. Allow to cool slightly so as not to overheat the miso paste.
Add garlic.

Prepare bowls with a dash of sesame oil, & white pepper, a tbsp of miso paste, a sprinkle of spring onions & coriander. 

Serve with noodles or as a side dish with a rice & vegetable meal & some protein. You could add tofu/tempeh or your favourite protein for an easy balanced meal.

Enjoy 💚