Raw vegan miso soup, with zucchini and pumpkin noodles

As winter time approaches here in New Zealand I’ve been thinking about a strategy for stay raw throughout the winter. I know from past experience that while it’s easy and quite natural for me to eat raw during warm weather, when it starts getting cold it’s harder for me to stay raw naturally, and I especially love soups in the winter months.

Today I think I found a solution, and I’d just like to take a moment to express my gratitude for miso. I have loved miso since I first tasted it. But to make things even better, it’s a fermented food. Which means that even though the ingredients are cooked (and not raw), the fermentation process turns it back into a living food, full of enzymes and friendly bacteria that help to promote healthy digestion.

Simply dissolving a spoonful of miso paste into a cup of warm water makes a delicious, nourishing broth. And from there you can add whatever vegetables you like and have on hand.

Miso comes in many varieties, all with different flavors, depending on the base ingredient used to make it. The one I use most is the sweet brown rice miso, I find it’s the most versatile. But I also love the brown rice miso in soups. For stronger flavor, try the barley or soy bean miso. Just be careful to choose a miso that’s made with non-GM foods, and one that’s raw and unpasteurized.

The pasteurizing process was developed to kill any bacteria, so pasteurizing any fermented food, like apple cider vinegar, yogurt, miso, sauerkraut, kills all the beneficial bacteria – totally defeating the whole purpose of fermenting the food in the first place. It seems totally ridiculous to me that anyone would even consider doing it, but we’ve strayed so far from nature and what’s natural that we do ridiculous and counter-productive things like this all the time. We’ve become so paranoid about bacteria that we’ve forgotten that without these amazing little creatures, the world as we know it would not exist.

The trick to miso soup is to never boil the miso. If you boil the miso you’ll kill the friendly bacteria and enzymes.  Always boil or warm the water, wait for it to cool down a bit and then add it to the miso. To qualify as a raw food you want to make sure you don’t heat it above 110-118 degrees F (43-47 degrees C), because above that temperature you start destroying the nutrients and enzymes of the food.

So with all that said, let’s get onto the business of making raw vegan miso soup with zucchini and pumpkin noodles. The easiest way is to prepare the vegetables and divide them into a bowl for each serving you need. Warm up enough water to fill the number of bowls you are preparing.

Ingredients:

1-2 tbsp of white miso paste
handful of dried, shiitake mushrooms, sliced
handful of wakame seaweed flakes (or other seaweed of your choice)
fresh vegetables (zucchini, capsicum/bell pepper, green or red chili pepper, cabbage, spinach, etc), sliced thinly
handful of mung bean sprouts
zucchini and/or pumpkin for ‘noodles’ (or any other squash you like)
water

Instructions:

Put the water on the stove to start warming up, and while you’re waiting for it add the seaweed and shiitake to each of the bowls. Break up the shiitake into smaller pieces so they will soften more quickly. Start slicing the remaining vegetables, except for the zucchini and pumpkin to be used as noodles.  When the water is warm enough, add enough to the bowls to cover the seaweed and dried shiitake and allow them to soak and soften while you continue to prepare the rest of the vegetables.

If you’re using any vegetables, like cabbage that are a bit crunchy you might want to add them to a separate mixing bowl, add a little sea salt and massage and squeeze them until they are more tender. In my soup I added some red cabbage kim chi that I made yesterday, so it wasn’t fully fermented and sour, but very tender, similar to the effect that you get from cooking.

To prepare the ‘noodles’, cut open the pumpkin or squash and, using a spoon, remove the seeds and any mushy pulp that was around the seeds by scraping them out with the spoon. Zucchini can be cut in half lengthwise. Use a vegetable peeler to make long strips from the zucchini and pumpkin. Try to make the strips as wide as possible.

Zucchini and Pumpkin Noodles

Lay the strips out on a cutting board and stack about 4-5 strips on top of each other. Then starting at one of the short ends roll the strips up. Use a sharp knife to cut across the roll of strips in whatever thickness you prefer. I felt like linguini, so I cut my strips as narrow as I could.

Zucchini and Pumpkin Noodles

For each bowl, dissolve 1-2 tbsp of miso paste in some warm water by putting it in a cup, adding the water and mixing with a spoon or fork until dissolved. Pour the miso into the bowl. Do this for each bowl in turn. Divide the remaining sliced vegetables and noodles to the bowls and top up with the warm water and stir. Serve and enjoy!

The finished miso vegetable soup with zucchini and pumpkin noodles

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Red Cabbage Braised with Olive Oil

Red cabbage is a superfood, and this has to be one of the simplest, yet tastiest ways to eat lots of it. I love cabbage, maybe it’s the Irish in me, but I can make a meal of this. Properly cooked cabbage has a slightly sweet taste which is complemented by the garlic. If you don’t like cabbage, you’ve probably never had it cooked properly. I’ve met many a person who thought they didn’t like cabbage until they tried one of my cabbage dishes. They’ve always asked for more. So if you imagine over-cooked, mushy cabbage with rotten-egg smell permeating the house give this recipe a try and see if cabbage doesn’t become one of your favorite vegetables too.

Cabbage contains phytochemicals called indoles which are thought to be responsible for reducing the risk of cancer. It’s also high in fiber, and contains a good amount of vitamins C, K, beta-carotene and the carotenoids lutein and zeaxanthin which promote good eye health as well as calcium, magnesium, and potassium. And it’s one of the lowest calorie foods in existence.

Red cabbage (also called purple cabbage) gets it color from a substance known as anthocyanins, the same thing that makes blueberries blue, and gives them their super-antioxidant and anti-inflammatory properties. Anthocyanins’ powerful antioxidant properties allow them to fight damaging free radicals, protect us from the damage of toxins, and fight cardiovascular disease.

Ingredients:

red cabbage
olive oil
garlic, minced
Himalayan sea salt

Instructions:

Preheat oven to 180C (350F).

Pull of any tough outer leaves on the cabbage and discard. Rinse and shake the cabbage to get off most of the water. Cut cabbage into quarters, then trim off the core and discard it. Cut the quarters into wedges or slices about 2.5 cm (1 inch) thick. If you want it to cook faster, cut it into thinner slices.

Place the red cabbage wedges into a glass casserole dish with a lid, layering them on top of each other until you fill the dish. After each layer of cabbage, drizzle enough olive oil to coat the cabbage wedges, sprinkle on some sea salt to taste, and sprinkle a little of the minced garlic (saving most of it for the top layer). Lay down the next layer of cabbage slices on top and do the same until you fill the dish. Add the remaining minced garlic, a final drizzle of olive oil and sea salt.

Layer the cabbage slices in the casserole dish

Put the lid on and place in the oven. Cooking time is usually about 45 minutes, but check occasionally to see if it’s ready and turn the dish so all sides cook evenly. The cabbage is done when it’s tender (no longer crunchy), but not mushy. The color will change, and lighten, but it should still be quite vibrant. At the point where it becomes tender, it loses the characteristic pungent taste of raw cabbage and takes on a nice sweet taste and that’s exactly when it’s ready to eat. Serve immediately.

Enjoy your Anthocyanins!

Variations:

• Pour a tablespoon of balsamic vinegar over the top for a richer, sweeter flavor.
• Add some chopped apple as you’re packing the layers. The taste of baked apple and cabbage compliment each other nicely.
• Pour a tablespoon of toasted sesame oil over the top to add an earthy, nutty flavor.

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Rainbow Cole Slaw

I love cabbage, and this really hit the spot. So much so that I ate nearly the entire bowl myself. Using heirloom red cabbage and yellow carrots and fresh herbs from our garden the colors were intense. This photo doesn’t really do it justice. The taste was just divine, and the raw energy packed into this quick-to-prepare meal was just what I needed.

If you don’t like the taste of apple cider vinegar tonics, this is a good way to get the health benefits of ACV without really noticing it. You can also add whatever fresh herbs you like, I used cilantro, parsley and wild mint.

Ingredients:

1/2 small red cabbage
1 large carrot
2 tablespoons sunflower seeds
2 tablespoons pumpkin seeds
1/4 cup roughly chopped hazelnuts or almonds
fresh herbs (such as coriander, parsley, mint)
2 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil, or hemp seed oil
1 teas umeboshi vinegar
3 teas apple cider vinegar, or kombucha vinegar
1 teas rapadura sugar or agave nectar (optional)
Himalayan or celtic sea salt and pepper to taste

Instructions:

1. Grate the carrot and finely slice the cabbage. Chop the fresh herbs and toss with the cabbage and carrot.
2. Add the vinegar, oil, salt and pepper and toss gently until the vegetables are evenly coated.
3. Add seeds and nuts and serve.

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Fried Cabbage & Garlic with Pistachio

Ingredients:
3 cups red & green cabbage, finely sliced
1 large clove garlic, finely chopped
4 T olive oil
1 T water
1 T soy sauce
2 teas parsley, chopped
salt & pepper to taste
garnish with pistachio nuts

Put all the ingredients into a large saucepan on a medium heat and cover. Once you hear the cabbage start to fry, shake the pan while holding the lid on.

Continue to cook over medium heat for 5-6 minutes giving the saucepan a good shake every minute or so.

When done the cabbage should be wilted but glistening.

This dish should take less than 30 minutes to prepare and will serve 4.

Variations:

• use Savoy cabbage, or a combination of red and green cabbage
• after cooking and before serving sprinkle with roasted cashew nuts or pine nuts
• add thinly sliced strips of fried tofu

Wheat free & Gluten Free
Soy sauce is the one item in this recipe that might contain wheat. So if your soy sauce is wheat or gluten free – the recipe will be too.

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