Vegan Mushroom Miso Soup with Udon Noodles

Mushroom Broth

• 50g of dried mushrooms
• 4 spring onions
• 1/2 garlic bulb
• 20g of ginger
• 2l water
• A pinch of salt
• 1 tbsp of soy sauce
• 1 tbsp of brown miso paste
• 1 tbsp of mirin
• 1 tbsp of rice vinegar

Garnish

• 50g of Shiitake mushrooms
• 1 bunch of park choi
• 400g of udon noodles
• 1 tbsp of toasted sesame oil
• 1 spring onion
• 1tsp sesame seeds
• 1tsp chilli flakes

Method

1. Put the dried mushrooms, spring onions, garlic, ginger, a good pinch of salt and water into a large pot and bring to the boil. Reduce the heat until at a very gentle simmer and simmer for an hour
2. Trim the mushrooms and add any excess trimmings to your mushroom broth. Slice the trimmed mushrooms for later.
3. Once you have been cooking the broth for an hour, strain through a fine sieve and dicard all solids. You should be left with an intense mushroom broth
4. Pour a little of the broth into a bowl and mix in the miso, soy sauce, mirin and rice vinegar, then pour the mixture back into the broth (this is to help avoid lumps of miso in the soup). Taste and season the broth to your taste.
5. Bring the broth back to a simmer and add the udon noodles and pak choi. Gently simmer for two minutes.
6. Whilst that is simmering, fry the mushrooms that you trimmed earlier. Place a frying pan over a high heat, add some of oil and the mushrooms. Stir-fry for a couple of minutes, allowing the mushrooms to soften and take on a bit of colour, reserve for later.
7. Ladle the broth into bowls with some of the noodles, pak choi and mushrooms. Finish with a sprinkle of sesame seeds, chilli flakes and finally add your mushrooms.

Enjoy!