This soothing broth is what I make when we have a nasty cold going around. It’s a light, warm and comforting dinner any day of the week though. We call it ‘balance broth’ because it’s an attempt to perfectly balance the tastes sweet, salty, sour, bitter and umami. And because it makes an imbalanced day seem instantly more level. It’s funny how food can do so much more than fuel our bodies.
Do you have a go-to recipe which makes you feel good? I’d love to hear about it in the comments.
Liz x
Ingredients (serves 4)
- 2 litres of water
- 1 vegetable stock cube
- 1 tbsp dried seasweed, crumbled
- 1 tbsp dried mushrooms, crumbled
- 2 green tea bags
- 1 fat clove of garlic, finely grated
- 1 thumb of fresh ginger, finely grated
- 1 tbsp tomato purée
- 4 tbsp soy sauce (or tamari for gluten free)
- 1 tbsp maple syrup
- 1 lime, juiced
- 2 tbsp toasted sesame oil
- 4 tbsp miso
- scallions, fresh chilli, sesame seeds, fresh coriander, rice or noodles, silken tofu and stir fried vegetables to serve
Method
- Prepare what you will serve your broth with first. Our favourite is nutty brown rice, stir fried seasonal vegetables and some simply chopped silken tofu.
- In a large pot, simmer all the broth ingredients except the miso and toasted sesame oil for 10 minutes.
- Remove the tea bags and turn off the heat. Allow the broth to cool a little then add the sesame oil and miso and stir. The slightly-cooler-than-boiling broth will ensure the beneficial bacteria in the miso will stay alive.
- Taste the broth and balance it as you need with more salty soy sauce or more sour lime juice.
- Then ladle the broth over bowls of rice, vegetables and tofu, sprinkle with sesame seeds, coriander, chopped scallions and chilli. Enjoy!
