Winter is here in San Francisco…it’s pitch black by 5pm and we’re in the middle of a week of non-stop (but much needed) rain. My husband has a cold. So it is definitely the right time to curl up with a hot bowl (or three) of this comforting soup! Start with a flavorful miso broth, add lots of veggies (including fresh carrot and zucchini, daikon radish which has a wonderful mellow flavor when cooked, sweet corn and snap peas) and some nice starchy rice noodles…what’s not to love? Serves 2 hungry people as a one-bowl meal.

Ingredients:

8 oz package of dry rice vermicelli (these can be had for a less than a dollar at many Asian grocery stores)

1 carrot

1 zucchini

1/3 of a large daikon radish

1/2 cup sweet corn kernels, fresh or frozen

3 scallions

2 Tbsp of miso paste

1 veggie broth boullion cube

1 tsp soy sauce

1/2 tsp sriracha sauce

1 tsp toasted sesame oil

Half-fill a medium sized pot with water and bring to boil over high heat, covered. Meanwhile, thinly slice up your root veggies and zucchini (I cross-cut the daikon slices in quarters and the halved the zucchini slices to make all the pieces relatively uniform).

In a separate medium sized soup pot, bring 3 cups of water to boil along with your sliced root vegetables (carrots and daikon radish only).

By now your first pot of water should be at a rolling boil. Uncover and add the rice noodles, cooking for about 5 min until just cooked. Drain off the starchy liquid and set aside the noodles.

To your broth pot, add the zucchini, as well as the miso paste, boullion cube, soy sauce sesame oil, and sriracha. Mix everything to get a nice uniform broth. Lower the heat to medium-low and let simmer an additional 5 minutes.

Finally, mince the scallions finely and slice your snap peas into 1/4 inch slices. Add the snap peas and the corn kernels to the broth simmer for another 3 minutes before turning off the heat.

Now it’s time to serve up this delicious concoction! To each of your soup serving bowls, add a generous handful of rice noodles and sprinkle with about a Tbsp of minced scallion.

Finally, ladle out broth and veggies over the noodles and serve piping hot!