Chunky vegetable soup

Serves 4, vegan
The addition of the vegetables turns this miso soup into something a little more substantial. Use any seasonal vegetables that you like or if you want just a plain miso soup as an appetiser just omit the vegetables altogether.
Ingredients 1 litre (4 cups) dashi 2 tbsp miso 80ml (7 tbsp) Sake 40ml (3 tbsp) mirin 100ml (8 tbsp) soy sauce 2 courgettes 1 turnip 4 spring onions	Peel the turnip and cut into slices. Chop the courgette into slices or batons. Place the dashi, miso, sake, mirin and soy sauce into a large pan and bring it slowly to the boil. Add the thinly sliced turnip and courgette and lightly simmer them in the soup until they are just tender. They will absorb all of the soups flavour. Serve in bowls sprinkled with the chopped spring onions.
	If you want to tie the vegetables up as I have in the picture then just steep some chives in hot water for one minute and take them out again. This will soften them and make them tough enough to tie up vegetables.

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Miso is a salty paste made from the fermentation of soy beans, rice or barley. there are two main types white miso and red miso. The white miso tends to be much sweeter and is the one I prefer but don't worry if you don't know which one to choose (there are many varieties) all types will work fine in the recipes in this book.
Sake is a Japanese rice wine. The quality can vary enormously but for cooking purposes I would buy quite a cheap one to start with. If you like to drink it buy a big bottle.
Mirin is a sweetened sake with a similar taste to a sweet sherry. It is used a lot in Japanese cooking and used in many recipes in this book so it is worth seeking out a bottle. Lots of supermarkets now stock mirin and you will more than likely find it in your local Asian grocer. It can be quite expensive but no more than a good sherry.