It's January, which means not only am I think about eating cleaner, fresher, and a bit healthier (hello, #macrobiotic bowls), but I've also taken on the #Cook90 challenge and am cooking every single meal this month. So I'm trying to keep my cooking simple, simple, simple.
But it's also been cold AF in New York, so I've been craving warm, fill-me-up meals as well. Simple and warming? That means soup. Unlike many of my #Cook90 friends, who have been leaning hard on easy-to-#nextover ingredients like roast chicken, I've been making lots of big pots of soup this month. And this miso-tahini combination is by far my favorite.
The idea first popped into my head when when cooking a veggie hot pot recipe from Naoko Takei Moore's Donabe cookbook (cooking Japanese cuisine is another one of my #Cook90 goals), which was made with a combo of miso and tahini (or white sesame paste) in the broth. Flipping through the pages of other cookbooks, I realized that this broth is actually common in Japanese cooking; in fact, sesame paste is the ingredient that gives the classic Tan Tan Men ramen its creamy consistency.
The flavor combination has since been my go-to for making hearty, nutty vegetarian soups, and I've found that the formula is endlessly variable. If I want to make a soup that's thicker and more stew-like, as in this squash and kale soup, I use an equal proportion of tahini and miso; to make a thinner soup, I only add a touch of tahini for just a little rich creaminess.
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In addition to the miso and tahini, this dinner only requires a few additional ingredients. The soup itself is just kale and kabocha squash, a sweet winter Japanese squash, cooked in a broth that's been gussied up with a little ginger and garlic. The squash will break down into the soup slightly, helping to thicken it up, but be careful not to overcook it, or you'll just end up with mush.
Although I really love this combination of squash and kale, the soup can be easily customized with whatever you have in the fridge. The kabocha can be swapped out for butternut squash or pumpkin, sweet potato or white potato. You can add other vegetables into the mix if you have them (I've used turnip, onion, carrot and/or cabbage in recent versions), and if you're looking for a little more protein, add a can of chickpeas or some tofu. Don't want to pair it with brown rice? Try udon noodles. And if you need a little heat, a touch of hot chili oil is the perfect topping.
