Nasu to myoga no misoshiru / miso soup with eggplant and Japanese ginger buds

A summery pairing of eggplant and myoga ginger buds! Eggplant goes really well with miso. In this soup, fresh myoga gives a zesty punch. Eggplant skin tends to become dull when cooked in soup; add eggplant while dashi is vigorously boiling to retain its beautiful purple tone.

1/2 of recipe: 
30 calories; 1.9 g protein; 0.4 g fat; 5.1 g carbohydrate; 3.4 g net carbs; 248 mg sodium (with reduced-sodium miso); 1 mg cholesterol; 1.7 g fiber


<Ingredients>

1 medium or 1/2 large nasu eggplant (approx. 100 g; in photo, 110 g, 1/2 Chinese eggplant)
Several myoga Japanese ginger buds (26 g in photo)

250 cc dashi
1/2 tsp sakekasu sake lees
2 tsp miso

Ichimi pepper (optional)

<Directions>
1.

In a pot, put dashi and sakekasu, and bring to boil.
(Mix to dissolve sakekasu, as necessary.)

2.

Slice eggplant and myoga.

3.

When dashi boils vigorously, add eggplant, and cook through.

4.

Meanwhile, take some dashi and soften miso paste.

5.

When eggplant is done, add miso, and mix well.

6.

Immediately serve in bowls; top with myoga (and ichimi pepper if spiciness is desired).

<Notes>

• Myoga in above photos are young buds from young plants. Mature plants produce plumper buds.
• Myoga can be very powerful. If you find it too strong, soak sliced/julienned myoga in cold water for 30+ seconds and drain.
• If a green topping or additional garnish is desired, shiso perilla works great (photo at upper right). Shiso, especially when grown in sunny locations, can also be powerful, and soaking julienned shiso for half a minute or so can soften the taste, just as with myoga.
  
• Sakekasu (virtually zero sodium) is used to reduce the amount of miso in the soup.
• I use miso that contains 220 mg sodium per teaspoon.