4 dried shiitake mushrooms
1 cup boiling water
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6 cups vegetable stock, or 2 cubes vegetable bouillon dissolved in 6 cups water
1-1/2 tablespoons grated fresh ginger root
1-1/2 cups thinly sliced carrot rounds
1-1/2 cups thinly sliced leeks or onions
2 cups chopped Chinese cabbage, bok choy, or kale
4 cups firmly packed and rinsed, chopped fresh spinach
1 cake tofu, cut into 1/2-inch cubes (3/4 pound)
tamari soy sauce to taste
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chopped scallions
several drops dark sesame oil
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Place the shiitake mushrooms in a bowl, cover with boiling water, and set aside for later.
Heat stock or bouillon in pot. Once boiling, add ginger, carrots, leeks or onions, Chinese cabbage or other greens. Lower the heat and simmer for 10 minutes, until veggies are tender.
Drain the mushrooms, adding the liquid to the soup. Thinly slice the mushroom caps and stir them into the soup along with spinach and tofu. Cook for 5 minutes. Add tamari to taste.
Serve garnished with scallions and dark sesame oil.
Recipe from Moosewood Restaurant Cooks at Home, from The Moosewood Collective.
I call this “water soup”. Haifang thinks it needs miso. Perhaps a peppercorn. White wine may be good as well. Joe does not like the idea of tamari. Everyone seems to agree that it sounds bland. I totally agree.
Wow, you really don’t like this soup. Not every soup needs to be a thick stew, covered with melted cheese, or so saturated with salt that it no longer stays in solution.
Not so much bland, just more of a starter. A lot of soups with recipes similar are kinda meant to be palate cleansers – sort of how like you might have a light white wine before a meal to “prepare” yourself for the meal at hand.
By itself I agree this particular soup wouldn’t constitute a meal, but then I suspect that’s not the design. Regardless, personally I’d tweak the ingredients a bit, as with many Moosewood recipes. I have a copy myself and find them good guides. For example this calls for tofu, and I’d specify to say silken (non-firm) tofu, as in miso. Haifang & I both agree on this.
For the record, cheese in soup is muy disgusting. Sorry dude, that’s just the way I see it. I rarely put more than a light dusting even on things like pasta, chili or risotto.
Well, it’s really just that I’m not catholic and don’t feel that my pallet needs to be punished for all its mortal sins.
Cliff, you’re a heathen!
4 cups of spinach in an otherwise oriental-themed soup? Weird. I would vote for a red chili pepper, maybe some rice wine vinegar. And bok choy is not equal to kale.
This is a perfect recipe to use up all the random greens from the CSA. Kale, bok choy, chard, spinach, even napa, it doesn’t matter. I prefer using smoked tofu to add variety to the otherwise mostly slimy texture of the greens. Miso and cayenne would be great additions, as would more veggies and grains. I’m not sure about vinegar though, maybe mirin or sherry instead.
I enjoy decadent food as much as Cliff does, but there is something very refreshing about the humble simplicity of this soup that I really enjoy.