Around The World On Your Plate

Ingredients: 3 cups of Dashi stock 2 tablespoon miso paste 1/2 cup chopped Spinach 1/4 cup cubed firm tofu Method: In a pot, simmer the stock along with spinach and tofu until just done.  Strain the miso using a mesh strainer into the soup and turn off the heat once you start to smell the rich flavour of the miso paste infused into the soup. Serve immediately. Note: Do not boil the soup after miso paste has been added. This soup can be made with a combination of veggies added to it, see below. Vegetable Combination: Spinach and tofu. Potato and onions. Mung beans. Cabbage and deep-fried tofu.

Vegan Dashi Ingredients: 3 cups water 1 small piece  of kombu seaweed Method: In a pot, put kombu and water and leave it for 30 minutes.  After 30 minutes, simmer on medium heat until it comes to a slow boil.  Turn off.  Remove kombu. The vegan Dashi stock is ready. Dashi with Bonito Flakes Ingredients: 3 cups water 1 small piece  of kombu seaweed 15 grams of dried bonito flakes Method: In a pot, put kombu and water and leave it for 30 minutes.  After 30 minutes, simmer on medium heat until it comes to a slow boil.  Turn off.  Remove kombu.  Add the bonito flakes to infuse the flavour only.  Do not turn on the heat. Strain using a fine mesh strainer and its ready. Note: Kombu is a type of edible kelp. If you prefer to make this without kombu, dashi stock powder is also available in supermarkets but it contains dried fish flakes and hence not vegan.