I’ll be the first to defend the glories of school and learning and books and other lovely things, but sometimes it’s not all-perfect-and-amazing-thank-you-very-much. Infinite amounts of reading and essays have taken over what I have left of my life. It’s a time suck, no doubt.
Fear not: even though I’ve been on a baby blogging break I still cook as much as I ever do.
Enter segue to… seaweed! It’s all healthful for you (lots of iron, vitamins, blah blah blah) and–most importantly– it’s oodles and oodles of yum. I bought a bag of hijiki at a Japanese market recently and it’s changed my cooking style for the better. Can you think of anything more comforting on a cold night than miso soup with soba, veggies, and hijiki? Nuuuuuu, that’s right you can not.
This was a “let’s throw everything in there” kind of soup and I’ve made it again since this picture, altering it a bit every time.I’m feeling terribly lazy so instead of a proper recipe I’ll give you the gist of it. Feel free to smack me (or for the civilized: email) if you want more details.
Bring soba, hijiki (I kinda kept dumping more and more on), julienned carrots, and whatever other veggies you want to a boil. Add 2 T miso (adjust to taste), a splash of mirin, 1 T siracha, a bit of soy sauce, some salt, and whatever other spices your heart desires. Dump in anything you want to use up such as frozen corn, leftover rice, chickpeas, edamame, tofu, etc. Keep in mind the more stuff you add, the more water you’ll need to keep it a soup as opposed to a stew. I learned that one the hard, scratch that, yummy way.
Taste-tested your broth? Added everything and it’s all heated up? Ok then, serve hot with freshly grated ginger.
In related news, udon noodles are pretty good but soba will always win in my book. Special thanks to my roommate who made this for me. She will disagree with me on the soba vs. udon preference, but that’s her loss 
The hijiki was just meant to rock the sandwich. It’s amazing I tell you. This was my first time using the scary black hijiki and the chickpea magically transformed it into all that is great and good in this world a.k.a the Chickpea-Hijiki sandwich. Because I had no vegan mayo, I substitued olive oil and reduced the amount from 3 T to 2 T: still yumz.
If you want to try this out (and you really should) the Chickpea-Hijiki sandwich recipe can be found in Vegan with a Vengeance (VWAV). Isa Chandra Moskowitz, props to you and your awesome recipes. Your cookbook gets prime spot on my shelf- it’s dog-eared, food-splashed, and extremely well-loved.
You could say I’m feeling pretty giddy, fancy free, heading up to my beloved NorCal this weekend. The sun is shining and it was a whopping 106 degrees the other day. I know I’m supposed to hate the heat, but it makes for one very happy Emily. Seriously, fall is overrated and I know I’m soon going to miss the sun terribly. Bask it in it’s warm little rays while you still can!
au’voir and keep eating your veggies!
*Tip: to make the title of this entry even more entertaining, say it out loud real fast-like and enjoy in your childlike glee. Who cares what people may think HIJIKI HIJIKI HIJIKI HIJIKI!
