Soup Recipes
Cut a 5-inch piece of soaked kelp into bite-size pieces. Add to one quart of water and bring to a boil. Add cut vegetables from yang to yin: carrots, onions, celery, greens. Turn off the pot when veggies are tender. Soften two teaspoons miso in a bit of stock and add. Allow to sit a few minutes before serving. Serves 4.
There are many variations on chowder recipes that can be made using dulse. Chowders are usually comfort foods for warming us up, and there are several ways to create that thick creamy base that glides down to the tummy. One way is to use dairy, but that has the tendency to create stuffiness in people, so I prefer other methods. One method is to cook digitata kelp for an hour or so until the alginates go into solution. The Japanese would call this flavorful soup base dashi. Another method is to cook rolled oats for half an hour, adding water to create a soupy consistency. Another possibility is arrowroot and/or soymilk. Once you've established the base, sauté sliced onions with a sprinkle of salt and a lot of thyme. Use refined sesame oil. Sautéed garlic is a good addition, too. While occasionally stirring the onions over low heat, slice potatoes and carrots, dice turnips and/or rutabaga, and start them cooking. Turn off the onions when they're translucent. Cut up fish (haddock, salmon, cod, hake, or pollock) in cubes and marinate in tamari to firm it up. Chop a stalk of celery. Add the fish to the pot when the roots are almost done, and a few minutes later, add the celery, then the onions, and some finely cut dulse. If you like a bit of spice, sprinkle a bit of cayenne. Frozen corn can also be thawed and added for the last five minutes of simmering. Serve with a garnish of parsley. On the second day, try adding parsley or kale greens when you reheat the chowder. Green it up! This will taste even better than it did the first day. (I've also been known to add a quart of pasta sauce when guests show up unannounced at the last minute, stretching the chowder to yield a few extra bowlfuls.)
Clams can be substituted for fish in the above recipe.
When I make soup with digitata kelp, I start by filling the soup pot half full of water, turning up the heat, and adding barley, a slice of fresh ginger root, and a few square inches of digitata, cut into small pieces. I add dried shiitake mushrooms. After they rehydrate, I take them out and cut them into small pieces, then throw them back in the pot. I sauté a diced onion with plenty of thyme in refined sesame oil, and I set that aside. I slice root crops like carrots, parsnips, rutabaga, beets, and turnips. When the barley is beginning to soften, I add the roots, and I turn my attention to cutting up greens: celery, kale, and parsley are always good candidates. When the barley and roots are almost done to perfection, I add the greens and the sautéed onions for about three minutes and cover the pot. I salt to taste with Eden brand shoyu soy sauce because it doesn't contain alcohol preservative, far as I can tell. This soup improves on the second day, and I usually add more parsley or scallions each time that I heat it up. It just keeps getting greener and richer.
