Summer has arrived early in Barcelona this year - it’s the second week of June and we’re already pushing 30 degrees. This year I decided to embark on a new project: gardening. Living in a balcony-less apartment doesn’t normally give much opportunity to become your own food producer, but we are fortunate to have access to a large and unused roof. So I’ve been busy the last few weeks building a pallet garden box and rushing to get my tomatoes in before the real scorching heat begins. Since it’s my first season attempting to grow in a Mediterranean climate, whether or not I’ll get anything edible out of it by the end of the season remains to be seen! For this reason, I haven’t been updating the blog recently. However, I have been cooking and preparing new recipes. This recipe for miso soup I prepared almost one month ago, before we were surprised by summer. A hot and spicy soup is probably not the most appetizing in this heat, and my Spanish husband has repeatedly requested gazpacho and salmorejo over the last few weeks, but I’ve decided to include it now to kick off my Japanese category.

This recipe was inspired by an episode of Gordon Ramsay’s Ultimate Cookery Course , which I randomly found on the internet a few months ago. He uses salmon and fish stock, which I have replaced with vegetable stock and tofu puffs. If you’re not familiar, tofu puffs are deep-fried, spongy-textured cubes of tofu that you can find in the refrigerated section of your local Asian supermarket. You often find them in soups, stews, and curries of Asian dishes. Apparently you can make your own tofu puffs by deep frying regular tofu, but I have yet to be successful at this. For now I’m content to buy them at my all-time ever favorite supermarket: Dong Fang.

Tofu Puff and Vegetable Miso Soup

Prep Time: 10 minutes

Cook Time: 15 minutes

Total Time: 25 minutes

Adapted from Gordon Ramsay's Ultimate Cookery Course

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Ingredients

• 10 tofu puffs
• 2 bunches of bok choy
• 150 grams broccoli
• 4 cups vegetable stock
• 3 tablespoons miso paste
• 2 kaffir lime leaves
• 3 cm piece of ginger, chopped
• 1 small red chili, de-seeded and chopped
• 1 small package of enoki mushrooms
• A dash of sesame oil

Instructions

1. Bring a large pot of water to boil and add in the tofu puffs. Boil for 1 to 2 minutes to remove the excess oil from the surface. Drain and allow to cool. Once cool enough to handle, cut them in half and set aside.
2. To prepare the bok choy, separate the stems from the leaves. Slice the stems into bite-sized pieces and chop the leaves finely. Chop the broccoli into bite-sides pieces as well.
3. In a large pot, heat the vegetable stock to a simmer. Add the miso paste and whisk until well incorporated. Make a few small tears in the kaffir lime leaves to release their aroma and add them to the stock along with the ginger and chili. Next add the bok choy stems and broccoli. Allow to cook for a couple of minutes and then add the bok choy leaves. Simmer until the vegetables are tender and then remove from the heat. Finally, add half the enoki mushrooms and the tofu puffs and allow to warm through.
4. Rub the inside of a serving bowl with a drop of sesame oil. Ladle the soup into the bowl and top with the remaining fresh enoki mushrooms.

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