Japanese Miso Soup with Butternut Squash & Bok Choy

Vegetarian◎Vegan◎Recipe

Butternut Squash and Bok Choy Miso Soup

Two of the most common ingredients in miso soup are tofu and wakame in Japan.
(Tofu and Wakame Miso Soup Recipe is Here)

Today I made an interesting American version of miso soup which included Butternut Squash and Bok Choy(chinese cabbage). Miso soup is fun to experiment with and add things to. I will try a few more versions for you in the next few weeks with easy to find ingredients and healthy vegetarian and vegan options. After that, I'll introduce you to some great Japanese spring recipes!

Ingredients
(Serves 2 people)

1 shiitake mushrooms(*1)
2-inches dashi kombu(seaweed)(*1)
2 tbs miso(*3)
2 cups water

1/2 cup butternut squash (or any kind of squash or pumpkin), diced into-1 inch pieces
1 bunch bok choy(chinese cabbage) diced into-1 inch (separate leaves and stem part)
(It's called chingen-sai in Japanese)
*If you don't have Bok Choy you can use spinach or any other kinds of green leaf veggies too.

*1.Shiitake and Dashi kombu(seaweed)
(Kombu for dashi is easier to find online than real Kombu tea...see below)

*3. Barley miso paste(Mugi miso)
(Miso...you can use yellow, white and red miso paste for this miso soup)

Directions
1.Place the shiitake, kombu and water in a pot and let it sit for 30min(or over night).
(If you have salted kombu, wash the salt out)

2.Place the pot over medium heat and bring to a boil. Remove the kombu before boil.
Reduce heat to medium, add the butternut squash and bok choy stems and boil for few minutes, when the butternut squash is tender, add bok choy leaves in the pan and simmer for few minutes.

3.Turn the heat off,whisk and stir in the miso paste.
(some people like to strain the miso paste out of the soup, but you don't need to do this. It's good for you!) Stir until miso is well dissolved. .

It's best not to let the miso soup boil.
And serve in a miso bowl.
(You can cut and eat shiitake too.)