The japanese miso paste is my new wonder drug for gastric problems. Rather than pop histamine antagonists to counter flatulence and gastric wall inflammation, its so much tastier to down a big hot bowl of miso soup with yummy bites in it. And it works! No more bloating, and indigestion because your stomach is unhappy. Does good for cholesterol and toxin issues too!

Ready

• Multi-purpose red miso paste
• Wong-Bok leaves
• Bean Curd (look for those ideal for soup or steaming)
• Your fav fish - I usually use fatty salmon belly or head, or nice cod.
• Shitake Shrooms
• Shimeji Shrooms
• Crab Sticks (optional)
• Chili Padi
• Top grade light soya sauce
• chopped garlic
• 1 lime

Set

• Soup spoon
• Fine sieve
• Your fav comfort pot

Go

1. Cut fish into bite size chunks
2. Rinse out and slice shitakes
3. Rinse out and get rid of the bottom bits of the shimeji shrooms so they separate easily
4. Cut wong-bok into bitesize chunks
5. Cube beancurd (I usually have the whole rectangle of beancurd on my hand and draw 3 rows and 4 columns with my knife)
6. Boil a pot of water
7. Add in all ingredients, starting with the wong-bok and ending with the fish
8. Bring it back up to a boil, and slow down to a simmer
9. Simmer for as much as you want to reduce the soup (the more it reduces, the more flavor)
10. Add in the miso paste through the sieve to rid impurities
11. How much miso depends on your preference so taste it as you go.

Dipping sauce for the yummy bites in the soup

1. Slice up the chili padi with or without the seeds (I like a good hot sauce so I keep all seeds in)
2. Pour a saucer dish with soya sauce, add chili and chopped garlic
3. Add juice of 1 lime and mix well

What you should know

Never boil once the miso has been added in to maintain the active enzymes in the paste. Keeping it at a friendly minimal simmer is more than good enough. Its also a full meal this soup, and can be enjoyed best on chilly evening. Look out for the burp fest after though.

Oh yah, for those who aren’t sure, a wong-bok is a chinese wrap veg, sorta like a chinese cabbage, but long instead of round. Leaves have a kind of frill around the stem.