Why seaweed should be on everyone’s shopping list

Seaweed seems to be popping up everywhere at the moment and who would have thought that this would be the latest trend in superfoods. Want to know more? We thought you would…

Seaweed is pretty impressive, with many studies showing that it can help you lose weight, aid your digestive system and relieve stress. Here’s how…

Stress relief

Seaweed is packed full of B vitamins and amino acids. It is also known to include an amino acid that converts into the happy hormone serotonin to help lift your mood.

Digestive system

If you add seaweed to your meals it can help give a boost to your digestive system. Seaweed has been found to increase the production of good bacteria in the gut helping you to recharge your immune system. It is also a diuretic so can relieve water retention and bloating.

Losing weight

Research at the University of Newcastle found that seaweed could reduce your body’s rate of fat absorption by 75%. So definitely try this low-fat food as a snack and beat the cravings!

Here’s a hearty soup recipe, courtesy of www.justonecookbook.com, that will keep you warm in the winter with the added benefits of seaweed!

Miso Soup is a traditional Japanese soup consisting of seafood based stock called dashi and miso paste.

Prep Time: 5 minutes
Cook Time: 5 minutes
Yield: Serves 3-4

Ingredients:

3 cups homemade dashi stock or see how to make quick dashi below

3 Tbsp. miso

6 oz silken tofu or soft tofu

2 tsp. dried ready-to-use wakame (seaweed)

1 green onion/scallion

For quick dashi

3 cups water

1 dashi packet or 1 1/4 tsp. dashi powder

Instructions:

1. In a medium saucepan, add water and dashi packet (some brand of dashi packet may ask you to add the packet after boiling). If you are using dashi powder, bring water to a boil and stir in the dashi powder and it's ready to use.

2. Bring it to a boil over medium high heat. After boiling, reduce the heat to medium low and simmer for 5 minutes.

3. Discard the packet and dashi is ready to use.

4. Put 1 Tbsp. of miso in a ladle (or strainer) and blend it with dashi until it is thoroughly mixed. Continue this process until miso is all used. Usually each cup of dashi, you will need about 1 Tbsp. of miso. If you add tofu in your miso soup, tofu dilutes the soup a little bit so you might want to add ½ Tbsp. more miso.

5. Cut tofu into 1/2" (1 cm) cubes and add to the soup. Stir gently without breaking the tofu.

6. Soak dried wakame in water to rehydrate for 10 minutes and drain well.

7. Finely slice the green onion and put the wakame and green onion in each bowl.

8. Return the miso soup to a slight simmer until heated through and pour into the bowls. Be careful not to boil the miso soup because miso will lose flavor.

Notes

Each brand or kind of miso has different level of saltiness; therefore, add miso 1 Tbsp. at a time and taste the soup before you add more miso.

Use gluten-free miso to make this recipe gluten-free.