Tofu & Miso Soup with Soba Noodles

Directions

Gather your ingredients. Start by soaking the mushrooms to get the maximum flavour:

• 6 dried shiitake mushrooms, rehydrated in 400ml boiling water

Prepare your vegetables:

• 2 shallots, finely sliced
• 1 clove garlic, sliced
• 1 carrot, diced
• 2 sticks celery, thinly sliced
• ½ of a broccoli, cut into florets
• ¼ of a cauliflower, cut into florets

Fill a large pot with:

• 2.5 litre water

Put the lid on and bring to the boil. Once boiling, add:

• 200g soba noodles

Stir the noodles and boil for 6 minutes until just cooked, stirring occasionally. Strain, rinse and leave standing in cold water. Take the mushrooms out of their liquid and then add miso to the liquid and stir well until dissolved:

• 80g miso paste
• 275g tofu, cubed

Pour the mushroom and miso liquid over the cubed tofu to marinate it and set aside. Put a wok on high heat and add:

• 1 Tbs sesame oil
• 2 Tbs coconut oil

When the oils are starting to smoke, add your prepared vegetables. Stir-fry for a minute, then add the mushrooms to the wok and stir-fry for a couple more minutes. Then add:

• 1 Tbs ginger, finely grated on a micro-plane
• 1 Tbs sweet soy sauce
• 3 Tbs light soy sauce

Toss them through, then add:

• 250ml water
• the tofu with its marinating liquid
• the prepared broccoli and cauliflower

Bring this to a gentle simmer for 5 minutes, give it a stir, then turn off the heat. Drain the soba noodles, then toss these oils through:

• ½ tsp sesame oil
• ½ tsp peanut oil

To serve, put a nest of noodles into each bowl and ladle over the tofu and vegetable soup.