Miso soup of the day: chrysanthemum and Chinese yum

My husband visited our relative and harvested lots of vegetables last November, one of which was chrysanthemum.

In traditional Japanese cooking, we don’t really use edible flowers a lot, except for chrysanthemum and nanohana (canola flowers).

Typically chrysanthemums are used for sunomono, Japanese vinegared food.

But we got quite a lot, so I used some for miso soup.

To prepare, I picked petals off from the flowers and boiled quickly in the hot water with vinegar.

In the miso soup, I added Chinese yum together with chrysanthemum. Both of them are good for health – they have been used as traditional natural medicine.

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Nanakusa-gayu (rice porridge with 7 herbs) 2017 ver.

Happy New Year!

I would like to start this year’s blogging with the topic of nanakusa-gayu we eat on January 7. This is to pray for good health as well as to sooth our stomach by eating warm porridge after we eat a lot during the new year’s vacation.

As I introduced two years ago, the seven herbs are: water dropwort, shepherd’s purse, cudweed, chickweed, nipplewort, turnip and radish. They are called “haru-no-nanakusa (7 spring herbs)”.

This year, I got the assortment including red turnip and radish, which made the porridge look more colorful and fun.

Cook rice with five times the amount of water to rice. Boil and cut the herbs to add into the porridge. Serve with salt or soy sauce.

Miso soup of the day: Green pepper and eggplant

Another experiment – I added green peppers for miso soup for the first time and it worked quite well! It went well with eggplants. Try it if you have a chance 🙂

Miso soup of the day: Jew’s mallow

It is said that Jew’s mallow was introduced in Japan in 1980s. But like other vegetables with sticky textures, it goes very well with miso.

Simply cut and boil the leaves in broth and add miso paste.

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Looking for more miso soup ideas? View my full list!

Miso soup of the day: Zucchini & potato

Zucchini became popular in Japan in 1980s. Normally used in Italian dishes but tastes good in miso soup too.

Boil sliced zucchini & potato in broth, then add miso paste before serving.

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Looking for more miso soup ideas? View my full list!

Miso soup of the day: Acocado and scallion

Most of my blog followers are food / beauty experts or travelers who have tried various foods around the world, so I guess there is no need to explain about the benefits of avocados…

So now, let’s increase their benefits with the power of miso 🙂

Cut avocado, cook in broth and add miso paste. Top with chopped scallion. It’s also nice to add tofu in it.

FYI: It’s not a traditional recipe (generally speaking, for many Japanese, their mom’s traditional miso soup is the best in the world), so I don’t make it for others usually to avoid any complaints :p

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Looking for more miso soup ideas? View my full list!

Miso soup of the day: Celery leaves, potatos and enoki mushrooms

Don’t throw away celery leaves and put them in your miso soup instead 😉

Cut potatos, enoki mushrooms and put in the broth. Boil till soft. Add celery leaves and miso paste.