Cleansing Ramen Soup {vegan, gluten free}
This may or may not be Ramen...
... but given the recipe title, let's call it that.
Ramen stirs up very homey memories from college and university. It is on a short list of things that can satisfy a 2am craving after a liquid indulging evening out. Our brand of choice was Ichiban as there was something magical about that little spice packet - just the right portions of sodium & msg to magically transform the deep fried noodles when the hot water hit.
By actual definition, ramen refers to a quick cooking noodle in a clear broth with vegetables and sometimes meat. (I can assure you if there was any meat in those instant noodles, I do not want any further details on the matter.) But not all ramen comes out of a plastic package. I have experienced some delectable ramen dishes in some of my favourite Japanese restaurants. Warm bowls of comfort with a steaming flavourful broth.
I called this a cleansing soup because that is what it started out as. Mister was heading out of town for the week and I wanted to plan some lighter fare for me and Little one. A bit of a mini-cleanse because I like to (unreasonably so) blame all my bad eating habits on my other half. I think it was in the marriage contract.
The broth is a combination of shoyu and miso ramen - vegetable based with miso flavour. I rarely do a home made stock without animal protein because I find I can't get enough flavour from straight veggies. After some testing, I found this combination of vegetables yielded a nice strong broth that was not at all cloudy (often a challenge with bone broths). The squash and greens are key to the deeper flavour. You could easily use dried noodles of any kind in this soup - the zucchini noodles ones were just to keep me honest on the cleanse. (and because I love vegetable noodles) I would also make this again and add a boiled egg and/or some shredded chicken.
So like my Cauliflower Crust Pizza was not really "pizza" - this is definitely not your college ramen. But I am getting older wiser & with wisdom...
... comes better ramen.
Zucchini Noodle Miso Ramen {vegan, gluten free}
Author: sixtyone45.com
Ingredients
- 4 medium zucchini, julienned
- 8 cups of water
- 1 large onion, quartered
- 4 large carrots, 2 carrots cut into thirds, 2 carrots thinly sliced
- 1/2 a small acorn squash, cut into large cubes
- 2 cups of chopped greens such as kale, beet greens, collard greens, chard,
- 2 celery stalks, coarsely chopped
- 1/2 cup cabbage
- 2 inch piece fresh ginger, cut into four
- 2 cloves of whole garlic, cut in thirds
- 1 1/2 tablespoons miso paste
- 1 scallion, green part chopped
- Garnish: fresh lime, cilantro & parsley to finish
Instructions
- Julienne the zucchini, peels on. Using a julienne peeler or mandolin, peel the zucchinis into noodles and place in a colander over a bowl. Let drip or rest on the counter up to two hours. (leaving uncovered in the fridge accelerates this) The drier they are, the better they stand up to the hot broth.
- Make the broth. Combine the remaining ingredients (except the thinly sliced carrots & scallion) into a large stock pot. Bring to a rapid boil, then reduce to a simmer for one hour. You can let it simmer longer for a deeper flavour.
- Strain out the vegetables and return to the pot. Add thinly sliced carrots and return to a boil for 3 to 5 minutes, depending on how cooked you like the carrots.
- Portion out zucchini noodles into bowls and pour hot broth over.
- Finish with chopped scallions, fresh lime, cilantro or parsley.
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