Tempeh and vegetable ramen soup

I've never understood the ramen thing in the USA.  We had 2 minute noodles when I was a kid but ramen always sounds fancier. And ramen seems more than noodles.  It is a meal. A few weeks ago I wanted miso soup but I also wanted corn tempeh soup and I needed some vegetables.  I found a white miso ramen sauce.  It seemed easy but I followed my gut and fried up some ad-ins such as tempeh and eggplant.  It took me an hour to make it the way I wanted it.  Although it was a bit more work than I expected, it was such a delicious meal that I could have eaten it for weeks.  But it only yielded 4 servings over a few days, though it did helpe me use up some of the food in the kitchen.

The saucepan of ramen soup looked so beautiful I took a photo.  Then I served some out and took a photo because I it looked delicious.  The last photo below I took was the next day when I had some leftovers.  It didn't look quite as lovely but it still tasted wonderful.

So I wrote down what I did because I would be delighted to make it again or a version of it.  It seemed a really simple recipe to write up but life has been busy and distracting.  And it is not going to ease up much for a few weeks.  If I had the time I would be eating better but given today I had a busy day of meeting up with a friend, going to see the doctor, doing office work on my day off, having my dad over to help fix the wobbly fence, catching up on washing dishes.  It was the sort of night to order pizza for tea rather than make a delicious soup like this but life will calm down again and maybe given me more time for a bit of creativity and fun in the kitchen.

More substantial Asian-style soups on Green Gourmet Giraffe blog:

• Japanese-style pumpkin, sprouts and tofu soup (gf, v)
• Miso soup with tofu, vegetables and noodles (v)
•  Pumpkin and tofu laksa (v)
• Shitake and star anise split pea soup (gf, v)
• Tempeh and corn soup (gf, v)

Tempeh and vegetable ramen
Inspired by Ahead of Thyme

Neutral oil
1 onion, finely chopped
6 baby roma tomatoes, sliced
1 carrot finely julienned
1/2 red capsicum, finely julienned
1/2 cup purple cabbage, finely sliced
3-4 garlic cloves, chopped
6 cups water
1 tbsp soy sauce
1 tsp mirin
chilli paste or black pepper, to taste
550g soba ramen noodles
1-2 tbsp white miso
2-4 tbsp hot water
1 eggplant, cubed and fried
1 x 300g packet tempeh, fried chunks
1 corn cob, microwaved and kernels cut off
1/2 broccoli floret, chopped, cooked in microwave

Garnish:
1 spring onion, chopped
6 snow peas, finely sliced

Firstly prepare vegetables.  I fried the eggplant cubes in the cast iron frypan until crisp outside and soft inside, set them aside and then fried some chunks of tempeh in the same frypan until golden brown.   Microwave the corn (I do this in its husks for 3.5 minutes and then remove husk and cut the rows of corn off the cob.)  Microwave broccoli in a tub until al dente (ie only just cooked with some resistance when you cut it.)  Set all cooked food aside.

Heat some oil in a large saucepan and fry onion, tomatoes, carrot, red capsicum, cabbage and garlic (I gradually added them as I chopped them.) until softened.  Add 6 cups of water, soy sauce, mirin and chilli paste.  Bring to the boil and then add soba noodles and simmer for about 4 minutes or until just soft.  Meanwhile mix miso with hot water until miso is thinned.  Add to simmering soup.  Add eggplant, tempeh, corn kernels and broccoli.  Warm through.

Ladle into deep bowls and garnish with spring onions and snow peas.

On the Stereo:
Excuses for Travellers: Mojave 3