It’s turning warm (well, not cold) in Edinburgh and so my need for lighter meals has begun; eating your own bodyweight in Lentil Shepherd’s Pie is less fun when it’s sunny outside.

I love miso and we’ve recently invested in a few different types, one of which is a sweet white miso which I have to stop myself eating by the spoonful. It’s so thick and rich but still with that subtle miso flavour – in short, it’s perfect for a light but satisfying soup like this.

The idea to combine miso with tahini came from this great recipe from 101 Cookbooks. I feel like I wanted a bit more of a layered flavour, though, so I added ginger and nori into my stock when cooking to draw out those lovely tastes and infuse them into the dish. I also used broccoli and red kale as we always have too much of the damn stuff in our place.

This is a quick and simple soup that only really takes so long because of the brown rice; if you have some pre-cooked, it’s as easy as (vegan) pie.

I’d highly recommend putting Sriracha with this (as with almost everything) but you don’t need to if you don’t fancy it or don’t have it. But do put it on your shopping list because it is the single most versatile hot sauce in existence and I LOVE it.

You’ll need:
(Feeds 2)
1 cup brown rice
2 cups water
2-3 large broccoli florets, sliced
1/2 inch piece of fresh ginger, finely grated
1 handful red kale, sliced thinly (or green kale if you prefer)
2 tablespoons sweet white miso
2 tablespoons tahini
1/2 sheet nori, crumbled (if you have it)
sesame seeds
thin ribbons of carrot or slices of red chilli to serve
Sriracha (optional, but obviously makes everything 100% better)

Method:
Cook the brown rice until tender then drain (about 20 minutes)
While the rice is cooking, place the 2 cups of water in a different pan and heat to boiling. When boiling, add in the broccoli then reduce to a simmer
Simmer until the broccoli is tender; this should take about 10 minutes
Add in the kale, ginger, miso and tahini and stir well
Add in the nori and stir
Remove from the heat
Divide the rice between the bowls then top with the vegetables and broth
Top with carrot/red chilli and a liberal drizzling of Sriracha
Enjoy!