Oat noodles with tofu and mushroom in miso sauce

This is my lil' fella's lunch. I also prep extra that served as breakfast for me, him and hubby. I talked about miso a couple of months back in this post, when I first introduced miso to my lil' fella, when he had bouts of diarrhea and hasn't got appetite to eat much of his food. Since then I have been cooking with miso a lot, for the baby and for the adults.

Here's the info I copied from my previous post on miso:

Miso paste is an Asian seasoning made by fermenting a mixture of soybeans, barley, brown rice and several other grains with koji or also known as Aspergillus oryzae. The result of this fermentation is a smooth-textured paste with a strong savory flavor. Often used in Japanese cooking, miso is a healthy, probiotic food that helps support digestion by adding beneficial microorganisms to your digestive tract.

 

According to the Harvard School of Public Health, consuming miso rich in probiotics can shorten the duration of infectious diarrhea, especially in infants and children. (Here's the reason why I served him miso when he had his bouts of diarrhea, info from here). Just like the other fermented food eg cheese, yogurt or tempeh, the array of nutrients are very wide in miso. Due to the diarrhea, it would be normal to assume that he has lost a lot of liquid and nutrients from his body, therefore feeding him miso was a good way to replenish back the good nutrients. Nutritionally, miso provides mostly carbohydrate with some protein. It is also rich in several of the B-complex vitamins and contains several minerals, including calcium, iron, zinc, copper and magnesium.

 

Other than its beneficial effects onto our digestive tract, it is also known to protect against radiation exposure. After the atomic bomb in Nagasaki, Japan, Dr. Akizuki fed his patients a diet rich in sea vegetables and miso, limiting their consumption of sweets and sugar. The patients at Dr. Akizuki’s hospital were only one mile from the bombsite, but everyone survived. Many people outside the hospital perished due to radiation exposure. This piece of info was gathered from here.

 

Miso paste can be used to prepare broth for noodles or porridge. It has naturally occurring sodium, so there is no need to add salt into the broth. Miso can be gradually introduced to the little ones after turn. I have started introducing miso to my lil' fella at 16mo. The following recipe has no meat. You may want to add in minced or cubed chicken into the dish while cooking.

 

Ingredients (This recipe makes 2 babies' meal, and 2 adults' breakfast)

• 2 bundle of oat noodle, cooked in boiling water till soft
• 2 cloves garlic, minced
• Half an onion, minced
• 3-4 fresh brown button mushroom, cleaned and chopped
• 2 soft white tofu, cut into cubes
• 1 small stalk of broccoli, blanched in boiling water for 2min and then chopped
• 1tbsp mugi miso (depending on types of miso, some miso tastes saltier)
• 1/2 tbsp. liquid amino (by Bragg) (that serves as a salt-free alternative to soy sauce)
• 1cup water (a little warm-ish)
• 1/2 tbsp. corn flour with 1/2 cup water (optional)

Instructions

1. In a pot of boiling water, cook the oat noodles till soft. Blanch the broccoli for 2 minutes and chop into little pieces (this is more for the baby. If you're making this for adult, you may opt out the chopping).
2. Dissolve the mugi miso in the water (a little warm-ish) - this is the stock.
3. Heat up a shallow fry pan with 1tbsp grapeseed oil, stir in the minced garlic, onion, followed by chopped mushroom, tofu and broccoli. When they turn slightly brown, pour in the miso stock and the liquid amino, and let the dish stew for about 5 minutes.
4. Dissolve corn flour in water, pour into the stew. Let boil for 1 minute and serve with cooked noodle.

This is Bragg's Liquid Amino I've been using when cooking at home, it's a salt-free alternatives to soy sauce. Despite of the fact that it's salt free, it still tastes good. It contains naturally occurring sodium, so only introduce it to the little ones after they have turned one or 15month old. It's available for sale at Just Health or any organic or health shops.