Ramen Soup

I have just made some Ramen Soup. After googling Ramen Soup, I think that what I have made could be called Miso Shoyu Ramen Soup, as I have followed a recipe that requested brown miso (I used brown rice Genmai Spiral Miso) and nama shoyu (which means raw or unpasteurized shoyu – and I used Spiral organic Shoyu).

Unfortunately, I suspect that what I've made isn't raw. Nama shoyu is a type of shoyu not a brand name. I'm reading "The Raw Food Gourmet" by Gabrielle Chavez, and she mentions that the Nama Shoyu soy sauce from the Ohsawa company is the only brand she knows that is not re-pasteurised after fermenting (which qualifies it as a living food). Since Spiral Organic's sauce is called Shoyu rather than Nama Shoyu, it's probably a reasonable conclusion that it has been re-pasteurised.

I used a clove of garlic and some peeled ginger – and it’s the first time that I’ve used real garlic or real ginger rather than the ground versions. I was turned off garlic in my early adulthood when a member of my extended family regularly ate raw garlic. And even though I’ve known that ginger would be really good for me, it’s obviously taken me a long time to use real ginger as well.

But in the spirit of fully trying a raw diet – which many raw foodists recommend being somewhere between 50 to 75% raw - I decided this morning that I would try every recipe in a slim Thermomix recipe book called Rawlicious. Now I realize that picking a slim recipe book does make this easier for me, but as you can already tell, I am taking this personal challenge seriously by acquiring the exact ingredients mentioned in the recipes. And just to prove how serious I am, there are 31 recipes in Rawlicious, along with an entry for Almond Milk Smoothies with 12 variations. So I’m committing myself to trying 32 recipes which covers one of the Almond Milk Smoothies variations. And at least two of these recipes suggest the use of a dehydrator so I will be working out the best way for me to handle this, even if that means purchasing a dehydrator.

I really enjoyed making this soup – despite it being a cold soup. For a start, just the smell of the garlic and ginger shredded together was pleasant –obviously this is one experience I’ve been missing out on over the years. And as I added the miso, shoyu, and other ingredients, I just knew I was going to enjoy this.

And enjoy it I did. Since I made it from a raw recipe, there wasn’t any mention of heating the soup. However, I know that I can heat any soup I make to 37 degrees Celsius if I really want to – as this is equivalent to 100 degrees Fahrenheit, which is the approximate maximum temperature that raw food can be heated to - either as a soup or in a dehydrator or electric/solar oven - and still be considered “raw”. So if I do manage to work out solar drying which is my preference, then I must remember not to attempt drying anything outside when the temperature is above 37 degrees Celsius. I suspect that if the outside temperature is in that range, I probably wouldn’t have the energy within me to be preparing something to be dried outside.

So I think the soup I’ve just made tastes pretty good. It is salty, so note to self against the recipe is to not add any additional salt. I have included a photo even though for me the appeal of this soup is more olfactory and gustatory than visual.

I will make this soup again, and it won’t be just because I have bought a 400gm pack of brown rice miso that I now need to use up. I genuinely enjoyed making and eating this soup.