Creamy Kale Miso Soup

Standard / by / June 7, 2012 / 21 Comments

I want to thank you all for the thoughtful and interesting comments to my I am not a gluten-free vegan post – and welcome to the many new readers who popped in to read the post! I found the dialogue incredibly interesting and appreciate your thoughts. As promised, I have a few gluten-free cookbook reviews coming your way – so stay tuned!

The other day I went for a run around noon. It was cloudy, spitting rain and unusually cool. Perfect running weather! I ran along the Sound, enjoying the chill in the air.  When I returned home, the chill remained. I wanted a hot lunch, preferably soup, ASAP.  One look in the refrigerator and I had an idea. Kale + Tofu.  Then I second-guessed myself about 20 times.  I finally decided to follow my gut instinct and I am so glad that I did.

Creamy Kale Miso Soup

by JL goes Vegan: Food & Fitness with a side of Kale

Ingredients (Serves 2)

  • 2 cups vegetable broth (I used homemade)
  • Onion, diced in big chunks (I used half of a small yellow onion)
  • 2 cloves of garlic, diced in big chunks
  • Half a block of extra-firm tofu, pressed, drained and cubed
  • 2 cups of kale (firmly packed), torn into large pieces
  • 2 teaspoons miso (I used yellow)
  • A few pieces of raw kale, for garnish

Instructions

  1. Bring vegetable stock, onion and garlic to a boil in a medium saucepan.
  2. Add tofu and bring back to a boil.
  3. Add kale, cover and cook on low for 5 minutes.
  4. Remove saucepan from heat and stir in miso.
  5. Transfer soup from the saucepan to a high-speed blender (I used a Vita-Mix), cover tightly, and blend for 30 seconds to a minute. (If you double and/or increase this recipe, be sure to blend in small batches, 2 – 3 cups at a time.)
  6. Spoon into a bowl and top with a few pieces of raw kale, as garnish.
  7. Enjoy this hot, creamy soup!

Believe it or not, this was my first hot soup finished off in the Vita-Mix.  I thought it would be a terrific way to blend the extra-firm tofu, as well as the miso.  I garnished it with a few pieces of raw kale; the combo of a crisp crunch with the hot soup was superb.  I am delighted to submit this recipe to Ricki’s Wellness Weekend!

The next morning I found myself at my desk, working, at 6:30 a.m.  Three and a half hours later I realized I was still at my desk, still in my pajamas, had not yet worked out and the only thing on my stomach was three cups of coffee — nutrition/fitness fail.  I reheated the leftover bowl of this soup (you know I’m a fan of miso soup for breakfast!), served it with a handful of peanuts on top (trust me, yum), and at 11:30 I was powering through a hilly ride on my road bike — nutrition/fitness win!

This soup cooks up so quick and easy and is made with vegan staples so I hope you’ll try it right away and come back to tell me what you think!

***

Today, in my I Eat Plants column on LoHud.com I share my Creamy Strawberry Dressing recipe. I hope you’ll pop over and check it out!  By the way, yesterday they ran a promo for my vegan column in the print edition of The Journal News.

I’m loving the collaboration with my local paper (food is activism!) and I’m excited to ask you to SAVE THE DATE!  I will be participating in a Twitter chat next Wednesday (June 13) at 12:00 p.m. EST with my Small Bites/LoHud.com editor. More details to come!

Tags:

21 thoughts on “Creamy Kale Miso Soup”

  1. First, congrats on the newspaper spotlight! Fantastic news! I’m totally intrigued by this soup, but I’m one of those weary tofu eaters (only soy I try to eat is in miso or straight up edamame). Other thoughts on creating creaminess? Finally used nutritional yeast in a recipe a few months ago (not a lot – just added to a rosemary mushroom sauté on top of millet. It was awesome.) xo

    1.  Thanks, Beth!  And yay on the nutritional yeast! 🙂  You might try coconut or almond milk for a creamy texture without soy, though the soup will be thinner. For a thicker, creamy alternative perhaps toss a handful of raw, unsalted cashews in the blender with the hot soup.

  2. Yum! Your addiction to kale is awesome because it gives me so many different options for using it than just in my green smoothie! 

  4. Pingback: Chik’n Lentil Noodle Soup
  5. Pingback: Recipes I want to try soon. « Southern Fried Herbivore
  8. Pingback: I need your vote on Pinterest! Creamy Spinach Bow Tie Pasta Salad {Vegan}
  9. Pingback: Recipe testing + Vegan news you can use (9/23/12)
  10. Pingback: Links You’ll Love « Moi Contre La Vie
  11. Pingback: Tofu Tips {Vegan MoFo #13}

  12. We loved this recipe. We added some lemon at the end because we are lemon whores.

    1. Hey @google-880bb2340191b26e0dbbc939565b0b59:disqus! So glad you loved it! So easy, right? I’m making this for a cooking demo class tomorrow night and I’ll squeeze a little lemon juice on it now, thanks to your suggestion! Hope to see you and Jenny at The Seed in a few weeks!

  13. I have been making this soup ever since I met you and got the recipe at the farmer’s market in Katonah. Just a question: has the recipe changed a bit. I have your original printed one where you said to use a whole pkg of soft tofu (not silken). BTW i dop not have a Vita Mix blender but used an immersion blender which worked just fine and there was one less thing to wash up later. Thanks for this wonderful recipe.

    1. Hi, @disqus_nJMJQOnPf0:disqus! I love that you’re still making the recipe! The recipe you have is the one I included in my book Vegan for Her. The recipe included here was my first attempt, when I just made a small batch. I have made it a lot over the past year, though, and can tell you that extra firm, firm and soft tofu all work great!

      1. The reason that I looked it up again was I wanted to send it to a good friend who asked me about kale soups.

Comments are closed.

Archives

Meta