Wild mushroom miso broth

This miso broth is pleasing on many levels you get complex flavour with minimal effort, warming your soul and your tummy!

Prep 10 min
Cook 25 min
Serves 4 for lunch

300g jasmine rice
6 spring onions – 4 roughly chopped for the broth, 2 finely sliced, to finish
5cm piece fresh ginger, peeled and roughly sliced
25g dried shiitake mushrooms
1 sheet (or 12g) kombu

(Kombu is a dried, flat natural seaweed that can be found in Asian supermarkets, the world food aisle of big supermarkets and in healthfood stores. It’s great for making a stock. You could use 200g of seasonal greens instead)

1 red bird’s eye chilli, slit lengthways
250g wild mushrooms (such as ceps, chanterelles, girolles), cleaned and finely sliced
4 tbsp brown rice miso

First, make the rice. Put the rice in a sieve and wash under cold running water until it runs clear. Tip the rice into a saucepan for which you have a lid, cover with 450ml cold water and bring to a boil. Turn down the heat, cover the pan and leave the rice to simmer for six minutes. Turn off the heat, but don’t be tempted to lift the lid; leave the rice to continue steaming until the soup is ready.

Now make the broth. Fill a large saucepan with a litre and a half of water and set it over a medium heat. Add the roughly chopped spring onions, ginger, shiitake, kombu and chilli, bring up to a boil, then reduce the heat to low and leave to simmer for 10 minutes. Strain the stock into a bowl through a fine sieve, pouring it very carefully so you leave behind the last couple of tablespoons (these might be a little gritty from the dried mushrooms).

Return the broth to the clean pan and discard the stock veg in the sieve. Bring the broth back to a boil and, once it’s bubbling gently, add the sliced mushrooms. Reduce the heat to a simmer and cook the mushrooms in the broth for four minutes.

Turn off the heat and gently whisk the miso paste into the stock. Divide the broth and mushrooms between four bowls, and serve with the steamed rice.

An edited version of this recipe appears in the Guardian – by Meera Sodha