Miso soup

Ingredients:

4	Dried shiitake mushrooms
1 1/2 cups	Boiling water
2	Medium carrots, sliced diagonally into 1/4 inch-thick rounds
4 cups	Vegetable stock or water
1 1/2 cups	Shredded greens, such as bok choy, endive, Chinese cabbage, or spinach
2 Tbs.	Red miso
2 Tbs.	Light miso
1 pack	Tofu
To taste	Chopped scallions
To taste	Crumbled toasted nori (seaweed usually used as sushi rolls)

Instructions :

Place the shiitake mushrooms in a heatproof bowl, cover with the boiling water, and set aside for about 10 minutes.
In a soup pot, cover the carrots with 3 1/2 cups of stock or water and bring to a boil. Lower the heat and simmer for about 10 minutes, until the carrots are crisp-tender. Drain the shiitake and add their soaking liquid to the carrots and stock.
Slice the shiitake caps into thin strips and add them to the soup.
Stir in the greens and continue to simmer for abot 5 minutes, until they are just tender or wilted.
In a small bowl, blend both misos with the remaining 1/2 cup pf stock.
Cut the tofu into 1/2 inch cubes.
Stir the miso texture into the soup, add the tofu, and heat gently.
Be careful not to let the soup boil.
Garnish the soup with scallions, and with nori flakes if you wish.

Yield 4 servings.

The Moosewood Collective. Moosewood Restaurant, Cooks at Home. Simon & Schuster, New York, 1994. p. 31.