31 Days of Green: Day 3 Wakame

Todays green hails from the mighty ocean. It’s not technically a vegetable or a fruit. Three days in and I’m already bending rules; what can I say? I’m a rule bender. Wakame is what is commonly referred to as seaweed. A delicious seaweed. I had a lot to choose from; arame, dulse, kombu, nori. I picked wakame because that is what we eat most and it is the greenest looking of the seaweed bunch. Wakame is a good source of iodine. That’s right, you don’t need iodized salt in your diet! It is also rich in vitamins and minerals from our seas. Read more about nutrition here.  

Dry and rehydrated wakame

Wakame is also versatile. Mercury likes to eat rehydrated pieces of it. I like to add it to rice or sprinkle it dry on a salad or over eggs, but my favorite way is to make it into soup. You may have even had wakame at a Japanese restaurant in your miso soup. It makes a nice simple snack or light breakfast, and my favorite part is it doesn’t require cooking dishes!

Wakame Miso Kettle Soup

Gluten free, Vegan

Serves 1

1-2 tbl miso paste*

1 clove garlic

¼ cup dry wakame pieces**

1 cup water

pinch cayenne pepper (optional)

drizzle sesame oil (optional)

Warm up your water in a pot or teakettle; you want it hot but not boiling. Add the miso paste and a little cold water to a bowl and mix until the paste softens. Mince or use a press for the garlic and add it to the bowl. Pour water into bowl and mix well. Mix in wakame and let it sit for a few minutes until it rehydrates. Sprinkle with cayenne and drizzle with sesame oil if you like. Definitely see the ‘notes and substitutions’.

Garlic

 
Notes and Substitutions

Miso

* There are many types of miso paste. We use chickpea miso, as it is soy free (however I find the fermented soy of miso doesn’t bother my stomach). Red miso is one of my favorites for this soup.

** I buy wakame that is cut into bite size pieces before it is dehydrated. If yours is not you may want to break it up before you rehydrate.

This recipe is so versatile. Sometimes I add scallions or thin mushroom slices to make it more like restaurant miso soup. If I have ginger I will grate some in.  You can be creative with whatever you have. It is also nice to use fish stock or vegetable stock in place of the water.

What is your favorite sea green?