Granola-ish: Granola Goal-More Miso

We went to Forbes Island to celebrate my friend Lauren's birthday last night. You have to take a ferry to get there. Then you have dinner on this island, that is also a boat, and also a restaurant. I had a delicious, put pretty heavy/meaty dinner with plenty of wine, so I thought I would make something light tonight!

So I made homemade udon with a miso broth. I love miso. The fermented bean paste has so many health benefits, I aim to eat it as much as possible. I've never made homemade udon before, but I've been meaning to try it out. I got the recipe from Mayumi's Kitchen. Mayumi is one of my favorite macrobiotics chefs. She used to cook for Madonna! I highly recommend buying her cookbook.

You can throw these noodles into just about any broth base. Tonight I made a miso soup with sweet potatoes, onions, and bok choy. Noodle recipe is after the jump!

I really like this brand of Miso. I bought these at Whole Foods. Another great thing about miso is it lasts for a REALLY long time, so you don't need to worry about "wasting" it.

Homemade Udon

Serves 2-4

1 cup of whole-wheat flour

I cup of unbleached white flour

1/2 tsp sea salt

1/2 to 3/4 cup spring water (depending on flour and humidity)

1. Whisk together the flour and salt in a bowl. Slowly stir in 1/2 cup of water, a little at a time, and rapidly mix by hand to make a stiff dough. If there is a lot of excess flour, and more water a little at a time. Knead the dough until smooth, place in a ziplock bag, and let rest for 30 mins or so in the refrigerator.

2. Roll the dough into a cylinder and cut into 12 parts, then roll each part into a small ball. Line them up in a pan, cover with a damp cloth and let rest for 10 to 15 mins.

3. Gently pull each ball apart using your thumbs and index finders so as to form a hole in the middle. Stretch each doughnut shaped piece into a necklace shape by gradually stretching and flattening each segment of the dough so as to be about 1/3 to 1/2 inch wide. Once you have formed 12 necklace-shape pieces, the dough is ready to be cooked in broth or soup.

*I would enlist a friend to help stretch the dough, because this part is pretty time consuming.

This picture may help a bit...