Beetroot Miso Soup: A Light Lunch or Swift Supper

Miso soup makes for a wonderfully quick, delicious and nourishing meal when you’re feeling under the weather or just in need of something to fill a gap in the day. It can be incredibly simple with just three ingredients, including water, or you can change things up a bit, as I’ve done with this beetroot miso soup.

Veganuary

It’s Day 5 of my vegan food month and so far I’ve really been enjoying the challenge. One of my principal concerns with taking part in Veganuary was finding a decent butter substitute. I’m not sure there’s a vegan margarine out there without a load of additives I’d feel unhappy about.

It’s not the baking that bothers me as I’m happy using coconut or olive oil. But what do I spread on my toast, particularly with marmite? On Day 2, I decided to try a thin layer of almond butter as a vehicle for the marmite and oh yes, it most certainly does the trick. In fact, it’s so good, I had it again yesterday too. Sadly, almond butter is a lot more expensive than dairy butter, so it feels like a bit of a luxury.

As for the breakfasts and lunches I was so concerned about, I’m having a ball. I’m trying something different everyday and I’m relishing the variety. My last post highlighting 31 healthy vegan breakfast recipes has helped. Astonishingly, I haven’t even missed cheese yet.

On Day 3, I had our leftover squash curry on toast, it was delicious. Yesterday, I had pitta bread stuffed with falafel, salad and tahini sauce. This beetroot miso soup was the lunch I had on Day 2, followed by a slice of that almond butter toast I was talking about. I’d forgotten just how good miso soup was.

Beetroot Miso Soup

So, first to the beetroot. I had some delivered in my veg box this week. As regular readers will know, CT is somewhat averse to this amazingly healthy and colourful vegetable. My first thought was quick, turn those roots into spiced pickled beetroot, to enhance my lunchtime sandwiches.

But as I was pondering what I’d do with the beetroot cooking water, I had an epiphany: use it for miso soup. I hate throwing out any water that vegetables have been cooked in and it usually ends up in various jugs, cluttering up the fridge.

Once I made this decision, I added a little dulse seaweed to the cooking pan along with some water, the beets and a pinch of salt.  I cooked the beets until just done. In the end I pickled the two larger beets, but kept the smaller one for my soup.

Once they’re cooked, it’s a quick and simple process to get this beetroot miso soup on the table. Dice the beetroot and place in the soup bowl, then add some cubes of tofu and slices of spring onion. Mix the miso into the beetroot broth, pour over the beetroot mixture and job done.

I can’t tell you just how good this beetroot miso soup is. It’s voluptuously dark and you never quite know what’s going to be on your spoon when it emerges from the bowl – a slice of onion, a sliver of seaweed, a cube of tofu, a chunk of beetroot or a combination? Whatever it is, it will taste nourishing and delicious.

Miso Soup

CT introduced me to miso soup when we first met along with all sorts of strange fermented concoctions. We went through one particular healthy phase when we had it regularly for breakfast, like they do in Japan. Just a little miso stirred into some hot water with a dried shiitake mushroom rehydrating in the mug until it was cool enough to drink. The combined properties of the mushroom and the miso kept us going happily until lunchtime.

Miso Paste

Miso is a Japanese fermented paste made from combining koji, salt and beans, usually, but not exclusively, soya beans. It has a rich umami taste and is packed with beneficial gut bacteria. Miso is also high in protein, vitamins and minerals. Traditionally, the Japanese start every meal with a small bowl of miso soup to stimulate the digestion. Miso is good for giving flavour and substance to all sorts of soups, sauces and marinades.

You can get hold of various varieties of miso paste. The one you want for this soup is brown rice miso. This is the most common. However, you can also get red miso, yellow miso, white miso and barley miso.

Red Miso

Red miso, confusingly brown in colour and usually made with brown rice, is the most common miso paste here in the UK. It’s fermented longer than any of the others and is the richest in flavour. A little goes a long way. It’s Japanese name is aka.

It’s this one that you want for my beetroot miso soup.

Yellow Miso

Yellow miso, sometimes called shinshu, is a half way house between red and white. It’s also made with rice, but is harder to find here in the UK though.

White Miso

White miso, also known as shiro miso is the sweetest and mildest of the various miso pastes. It’s generally fermented for only three months and contains less salt than yellow or red. If you come across sweet dishes such as miso caramel, it’s likely that it stars white miso.

Barley Miso

Barley miso, called mugi miso in Japan, is the longest aged of all. This is because barley takes longer to ferment and breakdown than rice. It usually ferments for one to two years. Despite this, it’s quite mild with malty notes.

Traditional Japanese Miso Soup

The basic Japanese miso soup recipe consists of dashi and miso paste. Dashi is a stock which you make from kombu seaweed, shiitake mushrooms, fish or a combination of these. You can add all sorts of ingredients, but the most common are tofu, wakame seaweed and spring onions.

The key to a good miso soup, is to buy unpasteurised miso paste and then ensure you don’t let it boil. When I was first introduced to it, miso paste used to be hard to get hold of, but it’s now commonly available in supermarkets as well as health food shops and online.

Other Chunky Soup Recipes You Might Like

• Chunky vegetable soup with beans
• Lettuce & pea soup with new potatoes
• Mexican bean soup
• Ribollita: a hearty vegan Tuscan stew
• Simple laksa noodle soup with tofu
• Summer green soup with parsley & almond pesto

Keep in Touch

Choclette x

Beetroot Miso Soup. PIN IT.

Beetroot Miso Soup – The Recipe

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5 from 7 votes

Beetroot Miso Soup

This soup makes for a surprisingly filling, delicious and nourishing meal. It’s super easy to prepare and the only cooking required is the beetroot & seaweed.

Cook ModeToggle to keep screen awake

Prep Time5 minutes mins

Cook Time25 minutes mins

Total Time30 minutes mins

Course: Lunch, Starter, Supper

Cuisine: Japanese

Keyword: beetroot, miso, miso soup, seaweed, soup

Servings: 1 serving

Calories: 95kcal

Author: Choclette @ Tin and Thyme

Ingredients

• 1 medium beetroot scrubbed, topped and tailed
• 600 ml water
• pinch sea salt
• 2 pieces dried seaweed (I used dulse) – snipped into small pieces
• 50 g firm tofu diced into 1 cm cubes
• 1 spring onions (scallions) finely sliced
• 1 tsp red miso paste try to get an unpasteurised variety

Metric – US Customary

Instructions

• Place the beetroot and seaweed in a lidded pan with the water and salt. Bring to the boil and simmer until just tender – about 25 minutes.
  1 medium beetroot, 600 ml water, pinch sea salt, 2 pieces dried seaweed
• Remove the beetroot, but hang on to the beetroot broth. Cut into 1 cm cubes, keeping the skin on, unless you really can't bear it.
• Place into a soup bowl, add the tofu followed by the spring onion.
  50 g firm tofu, 1 spring onions (scallions)
• Stir a little beetroot broth with the miso paste until smooth. Reheat the beetroot broth until it's hot but not quite boiling. Stir in the miso, then quickly pour over the beetroot before it cools down too much.
  1 tsp red miso paste

Notes

It’s important that you don’t boil miso or add boiling water to it as all its probiotic properties will be destroyed.

You can replace the beetroot with other vegetables. Carrots are particularly good, as is cabbage and most other greens.

This amount is enough for one person, but would make a starter for two.

Use a light vegetable stock instead of water if using a pre-cooked beetroot.

Please note: calories and other nutritional information are per serving. They’re approximate and will depend on exact ingredients used.

Nutrition Estimate

Calories: 95kcal | Carbohydrates: 16.4g | Protein: 7.7g | Fat: 2.6g | Saturated Fat: 0.5g | Sodium: 791mg | Potassium: 438mg | Fiber: 3.2g | Sugar: 9g | Calcium: 1890mg | Iron: 0.4mg

Tried this recipe?Leave a comment below letting us know how you got on and do share a photo on Instagram. Tag @choclette8 or use hashtag #tinandthyme.

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