a new nooch sauce!!!

Nutritional Yeast (or Nooch as it is called on several vegan sites) is one of those foods you either love or hate. It has a tangy, cheesy flavor and an impressive nutritional profile. Personally I love it. It is tasty in tofu scrambles, on popcorn, to season broths and flour coatings... basically anywhere!

I realize there are literally a million nooch-cheeze sauces on the internet, but they are not all created equal. After a lot of trial and error, this is my favorite version. It's good over pasta, steamed veggies or with chips dipped in it. I basically put it together myself but it was inspired by many other recipes.

(By the way, I am starting to think I may be a cheeze addict... in nearly every post that mentions any type of vegan cheese, i seem to eat the "evidence" leaving no food to photograph. The same thing happened again! I made a great Nooch and Noodle casserole only to lose control and eat it all before taking any pictures! But, for the sake of my blog I made another dish including baked potato and steamed broccoli, which you see in the photo above. This time I hid my forks until I took the pictures.)

So if you want to try another vegan nooch sauce recipe here goes:

The New Nooch Sauce

Ingredients

1 large potato, peeled and chopped (yukon gold works best)
1/4 cup carrots, peeled and chopped
1/2 medium onion, chopped
5 cloves of garlic (BE VERY BRAVE.... IT'S GOOD)
small amount of vegetable broth
12 ounces silken tofu
2 TBS crunchy mustard
1/2 cup nutritional yeast
splash soy sauce
1 tsp cayenne (or more to taste)
turmeric & paprika (for color*)
2 TBS red miso paste

Method:

1. Put all veggies in a small pot, and cover with broth.
2. Bring to a boil and cook until very soft.
3. Turn down the heat and add tofu, mustard, soy sauce, spices* and nutritional yeast. (*The turmeric and Paprika are to adjust the color slightly if necessary.)
4. Simmer on low heat for an additional 3-5 minutes to reduce broth further if necessary. You will need to stir a lot and if stirring becomes to difficult move to step 5.
5. Remove from heat and stir in miso paste
6. Carefully transfer to a food processor and puree until the mixture is the consistency of a cheese sauce. Enjoy!

Note: Lemon juice is also a good addition... my husband doesn't care for it though. WHen combined with the miso, it can make things very tangy.

The last supper

Tomorrow is my first day back to work after the summer break, so I chose one of the most comforting foods I could think of: miso soup. Now, this may seem like an odd choice but I love miso soup. I mean I REALLY LOVE miso soup. When I'm sick it is what I crave and when we are out eating in a Japanese restaurant, I always manage to eat my husband's as well as mine (luckily... he doesn't mind too much). This particular soup, I amped up with tons of vegetables and some rice noodles, which is sacrilege I am sure but delicious nonetheless.

We followed it with my first homemade sushi attempt (which totally felt like cheating because it was so easy), inari sushi. Everything (except the rice) that I needed for the sushi came in this little kit, which I bought at the Asian grocery store:

There were no English directions, so I used the pictures as a clue and in about the time it took to cook the sticky rice we had delicious little pockets of tofu stuffed with seasoned rice and a packet of garnishes cutely labeled "flake". I usually only get this in sushi restaurants but the home version was equally good. Here is the finished product:


After a final survey we concluded that I loved the inari and DH thought that they were "ok". He seemed to prefer eating a big bowl of the sticky rice with some cucumber. The next time I make sushi at home, my goal is to do it like these guys:



Now since the sushi was essentially rice and tofu, we ate tons of miso soup tonight. My husband even said that it was better than the stuff you get in restaurants!

Deluxe Miso Soup

Ingredients:

Water
a 2-inch piece of kombu, rinsed (a type of seaweed)
4 pieces of dried shitake mushroom
small bunch chives
splash rice wine
splash soy sauce

a handful of dried rice noodles
2 cups of mixed chopped vegetables of your choice and tofu
(* I used carrots, chives, napa, laver, red peppers, peas and tofu)
2 TBS miso (fermented soybean paste)

Method:

Begin by making your Dashi. Fill a two quart stock pot with water. Add the kombu, chives and dried mushrooms and bring to a boil. Boil for about 15 minutes, then add the wine and soy sauce. After 15 more minutes, strain out the solids, reserving the mushrooms. Taste the Dashi and add more soy if necessary.

Take a moment to chop the rehydrated shitakes.

Bring the broth back to a boil. Reduce heat and add the noodles. Once noodles are soft add the other vegetables, tofu and the shitakes. Heat through and then reduce heat to a simmer. Stir in the miso but do not allow the liquid to boil again. Serve immediately.



Miso is excellent for your health. It is high in many trace minerals, including zinc, manganese and copper. Some studies also suggest that it may help prevent breast cancer among women. Plus it is super tasty. I am no doctor though, so do not take my advice in place of a medical professional!! This information is not meant to diagnose, treat, prevent or cure anything... Got it? Be smart and do your own research!