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Fall 2005

Simple Ways to Use Miso Every Day

Do you arrive home after a full day's work, too tired to cook, too hungry not to, wondering what to make for dinner? You want something tasty and nutritious and you want it now. Here is where a devoted "friend of miso," Barbara Coughlin, can help. We met Barbara by chance (or was it grace?) this summer while visiting Camphill Village, a residential community serving special-needs adults in Copake, New York. She and her husband were stocking up on some of the Village's fresh baked whole grain sourdough bread.

I was delighted to learn that she had been developing simple, easy ways of using South River Miso -just what I wanted to feature in our fall newsletter. Here are excerpts from an e-mail she sent soon after meeting us: "Your miso is an integral part of my nourishment and pleasure. Using South River Miso, I can quickly transform any dish into one that satisfies taste as well as nutrition. I keep almost every variety on hand, according to the desire for sweetness or heartiness. I don't use recipes, but rather rely on my imagination and spontaneity for quick and simple dishes.

If I make a bean or vegetable soup, I blend miso into the stock at the end of cooking. For grain, bean, vegetable dishes, and salads, I dilute miso with water to the desired consistency, to make an instant sauce or dressing in the following combinations:

• Miso and mustard
• Miso and olive oil
• Miso, mustard, and olive oil
• Miso and brown rice vinegar
• Miso, honey, and/or toasted sesame oil
• Miso and tomato sauce (great on pasta)

Occasionally I use miso straight from the jar, spread thinly on crackers [we recommend Sweet White Miso for this --ed.], or bread, topped with cheese and/or vegetables. Tempeh with misospread is a staple in our house, as are shredded beets and hard boiled eggs with miso and mustard. Potato salad with miso-mustard sauce and vegetable oil is sumptuous."

In addition to Barbara's suggestions, here are a few easy ways that I incorporate miso into my day:

• Stir 1 teaspoon of one-year miso into a bowl of cooked oatmeal or other grain porridge. Allow to sit for a few minutes before eating. Options: Sweeten with maple syrup. Add raisins, mulberries, other dried fruit, almonds, or other nuts to rolled or steel cut oats, and soak overnight before cooking.
• Add 1 teaspoon of one-year miso or South River Tamari to a mashed ripe avocado. Splash with a squeeze of lemon.
• Whisk a teaspoon of miso or tamari into two raw eggs with a little water. Add a big pinch of dried basil, thyme, marjoram, or other favorite herbs. Scramble or make into an omelet. Yum.
• Heat up a can of low sodium organic beans from which you have drained the liquid. Mash beans and sauté in a little oil. Add miso to taste and enjoy on whole grain bread or a corn tortilla.
• Heat up a can of low sodium organic soup. Add miso, diluted with some of the liquid from the soup, remove from heat, and enjoy.

Thank you, Barbara, for sparking our enthusiasm and sharing some easy, creative ways to use miso. I end with your words: "South River Miso sustains me deeply. It is a comfort and a delight, something I look forward to every day. I feel that it is one of the fundamental nutrient-dense foods needed in these times."