Claire Strickett
Who says students have to live on pot noodles and beans on toast? Not us! Each week our Lifestyle Editor shares a recipe that will keep your finances and your body in good shape.
A Japanese staple made from fermented soy beans, barley or rice, miso paste is a surprisingly useful ingredient to keep to hand for those times when you need a decent meal in minutes. You can pick up tubs of the stuff cheaply in wholefood stores, Asian grocers and, increasingly, in supermarkets, and it’ll live (yes — it’s alive!) quite happily in your fridge for weeks. Bulking out a miso broth with noodles gives you a meal that’s filling and satisfying without being stodgy, and it’s easy to change the quantities depending on the number of people you’re feeding. Best of all, this recipe takes less than 15 minutes from start to first mouthful.
Ingredients (per person)
1 block/portion noodles (roughly 75g dried weight) – any quick-cook variety will do
1 tablespoon miso paste
1 tsp soy sauce
A handful of mushroom, sliced
A handful of greens such as bok choi or cabbage, roughly chopped
100g of firm tofu cut into 1cm cubes (try smoked tofu for extra flavour)
1 finely sliced spring onion
A small handful of fresh coriander, roughly chopped
And how to do it…
Boil the kettle. Place the noodles in a medium saucepan and pour over enough boiling water to cover. to a depth of 2cm.
Bring to a simmer, then add the miso paste, soy sauce, mushrooms and greens.
Stir well to separate the noodles and dissolve the miso, then simmer for around 2-3 minutes or until the noodles are almost cooked.
Add the cubes of tofu, along with the spring onion, and simmer for a further two minutes until everything is piping hot.
Pour into a deep bowl, garnish with the coriander and slurp up!
