Basic Miso Soup

Description
This recipe was my introduction to making miso soup. I love recipes like this that encourage you to be creative and make it your own - something many of us will do anyway! The instructions include many add-in ideas. I put spinach, shiitake mushrooms, and extra green onions in mine, using the water I soaked the mushrooms in for some of the water called for in the recipe. From Eden Organic Foods.



Ingredients

 * 3 teaspoons wakame seaweed or 1 teaspoon  wakame seaweed, flakes
 * 4 cups water
 * 1/2 cup onions, thinly sliced
 * 1/2 cup carrots, diced
 * 1 1/2 tablespoons mugi miso (OR 1 1/2 Tbsp plus 1/2 tsp Hacho, Genmai or Shiro Miso)
 * 3 tablespoons green onions, finely sliced

Directions
Rinse wakame; soak in cold water to cover for 5 minutes and dice, or if using flakes, add directly. Bring water to a boil. Add onions and wakame; simmer 3 minutes. Add the carrots and simmer 5 more minutes; reduce heat to very low. Add miso and simmer 2 minutes (do not boil after adding miso). Garnish with green onions. Optional Ingredients: fresh or dried tofu, shiitake mushrooms, leafy greens, daikon, lotus root, leeks, round or root vegetables, cooked noodles or grains.