Ginger-Lemongrass Miso Soup and 'Pork' Skewers over Noodles

I found two recipes on VegCooking.com that utilized both my Kyoto kujo-negi (Kyoto green onions) from the Old Town Scottsdale Farmers Market and some newly purchased lemongrass in a jar¹. Oddly,I pretty much had all of the ingredients with just a few negligible replacements. Score! So, I made them for dinner last night.

I love lemongrass, which is actually a fairly recent discovery. And this was my first time cooking with it, not to mention my first time with the kujo-negi. Not that either are a big deal.

Recipe:  Ginger-Lemongrass Miso Soup

I'm not much of a soup-eater, but I like Asian-style soups.This is only the second miso soup I have ever tried making myself. The first one had a strong, not-so-pleasant taste and I ended up not being able to eat very much of it. As a result, I wasn't sure what to expect with this one, but with the ginger and lemongrass both fave flavors, I suspected it would come out ok. And it did. The base flavor was really good. The only problem I had was not having enough soup floaties (aka veggies, tofu, etc). The recipe recommended only onions and mushrooms, but not much else to turn it into something beyond a broth. I added some of the kujo-negi onions, but I don't really like mushrooms, so I skipped those and didn't add a replacement. I also used several shakes of ground ginger instead of fresh ginger. Next time I will add some floaties to the soup base to make it more substantial. This is just a personal preference, as I know miso² soup is all about simplicity.

Recipe: 'Pork' Skewers over Noodles

You needn't bother squinting, there are no skewers there. I didn't have any and I don't have a grill, so I just stir fried the seitan and sauce. I used White Wave Chicken style Seitan³ instead of mock pork, the kujo-negi onions instead of shallots, and about 1/2 teaspoon of some ground chili spice mix instead of the Thai chilis (Terrible, I know! But it was all I had on hand). If you're not sure where to find the oyster mushroom sauce, I buy Orchids Vegetarian Oyster Mushroom Sauce⁴ from LeeLee's Oriental Supermarket. The dish turned out very well. I really liked it. I'll be making both of these again, especially the 'Pork' Skewers over Noodles, which I would like to rename actually. I'm thinking something like Lemongrass-Onion Seitan and Noodles.

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My preferred products and where you can find them:

1. Thai Taste Lemongrass- Whole Foods
2. Miso Master White Miso- Sprouts, Whole Foods
3. White Wave Seitan, Chicken-Style- Whole Foods
4. Orchids Vegetarian Oyster Mushroom Sauce- LeeLee's Oriental Supermarket

If you have any trouble with the rest of the ingredients let me know, but I'm thinking they're pretty straight forward.