Miso Vegetable Noodle Bowl

This soup is chock-full of vegetables!

Cook 2 ounces of udon noodles according to package directions - I found the most beautiful brand of handcrafted organic udon from Koyo. Drain, then rinse with cold water and set aside.

In a saucepan, bring 1 and 1/2 cups water and 1 and 1/2 cups vegetable broth to a boil. Add the cooked udon, 1/2 cup thinly sliced napa cabbage, 1/2 cup (1/8-inch thick) slices of carrot, 1/2 cup thinly sliced red bell peppers, 1/2 cup snow peas (cut into pieces on the diagonal), 1/2 cup thinly sliced shiitake mushroom caps, and 1/4 cup finely chopped green onions. Remove the pan from heat.

In a separate bowl, combine 1 tablespoon fresh-squeezed lime juice, 1 and 1/2 teaspoons peeled and minced fresh ginger, 1 and 1/2 tablespoons miso, and 1 teaspoon chile paste with garlic; stir with a whisk, and add to the soup.

For the miso, the original recipe called for yellow miso. This ingredient confused me a bit, as the grocery story had only red miso or white. I bought the white, and when I opened it, it looked pretty yellow-tinged to me! From what I could glean online, the two are fairly interchangeable, so use either white or yellow miso, whichever your supermarket carries.

Sprinkle the soup with 1 tablespoon minced cilantro, then ladle 1 and 1/2 cups of soup into each of 3 bowls. Each serving is 220 calories - serve with a wedge of lime if you like!

(Note: I didn't even realize until the next morning that I had used flat-leaf parsley instead of cilantro - luckily the amount was so small that I never detected the difference!)

Cost:
udon noodles $2.99
vegetable broth $3.79
napa cabbage $6.31
carrot $0.76
snow peas $0.36
shiitake mushrooms $1.20
lime $0.50
ginger $0.72
white miso $4.99