Miso yasai raamen / vegetable ramen noodles with miso-flavored soup

Finally, a sodium-savvy ramen with plenty of vegetables and great-tasting soup! More toppings mean more soup going into your mouth, especially when toppings are cut or sliced into small sizes, as a greater surface area is likely to carry more soup into your mouth. So for a reduced-sodium version, having lots of toppings is counter-intuitive, yet we opted for julienned vegetables for the extra flavor they add.

After being on a reduced-sodium diet for more than three and a half years, this is quite salty for us and definitely tasty. The recipe below is at the low end of the sodium content spectrum (soup has a salt level of 0.8% whereas soup at ramen shops averages 1.5%). Feel free to add more seasonings to taste, at your own risk ...


1/2 of recipe (approx. half of soup left in bowl): 
515 calories; 17.0 g protein; 9.3 g fat; 88.1 g carbohydrate; 15.8 g net carbs; 781 mg sodium* (with reduced-sodium miso and shoyukoji made with 50% reduced-sodium soy sauce); 11 mg cholesterol; 7.5 g fiber; 706 mg potassium 
*Stir-fried vegetable toppings alone contain 100 mg sodium per serving.

Tomorokoshi gohan / steamed rice with corn

Sweet kernels of corn instantly make ordinary rice a summer dish. Julienned green shiso perilla leaves offer a nice counter punch, preventing the rice from becoming too mellow.

1/3 of recipe:
209 calories; 4.0 g protein; 0.9 g fat; 43.5 g carbohydrate; 42.5 g net carbs; 79 mg sodium; 0 mg cholesterol; 1.0 g fiber

1/2 of recipe:
313 calories; 6.0 g protein; 1.3 g fat; 65.3 g carbohydrate; 63.8 g net carbs; 101 mg sodium; 0 mg cholesterol; 1.5 g fiber

Tomorokoshi to retasu, sakura ebi no itamemono / sauteed corn, lettuce and sakura ebi dried shrimp

The sweetness of corn is brought out by sauteing and by the toasty, slightly salty taste of sakura ebi. Lettuce adds a nice crunch to this quick dish.

Jagaimo to tomorokoshi no misoshiru / miso soup with potato and corn

Juicy fresh corn provides a pleasant counterpoint to the crumbly potato while a tiny amount of butter adds a rich note to this miso soup.

Tomorokoshi-dofu / corn tofu

A creamy, panna cotta-like delight for summer.