This can be made with any kind of vegetable and is a perfect accompaniment to rice. Add a tea egg and some braised greens and you have a full meal. Very easy. Vegetarian.
Ingredients
- Water
- 2 cups of vegetables with a mix of soft/firm textures
- 1 teaspoon light soy sauce
- Salt to taste
Method
1. The trick with making a good light vegetable soup is finding the right vegetables. There are lots of leafy greens at your Asian store you might not have used before and they are all excellent for this kind of light soup. How to prepare different kinds of vegetables:
- Leafy greens e.g. bok choy, silver beet, napa, spring onion – cut the thick stems into 1 inch pieces, these go into the first boil. Rip or cut the soft parts into 2 inch pieces, these go in the second boil
- Root vegetables e.g. kumura, carrots – cut into thin slices around 2mm thick, these go in the first boil.
- Mushrooms e.g. portobello, enoki – thick varieties like portobello should be finely sliced and go into the first boil. Delicate varieties like enoki should only be broken at the root base and added in the second boil. Dried woodear mushrooms are delicious, cheap, and easy to use. Add dried to the first boil.
2. First boil: boil 500ml of water, add firmer parts of vegetables first
3. Boil for 10 minutes until soft
4. Second boil: add softer parts of vegetables
5. Boil for 2 minutes
6. Add soy sauce and salt to taste and serve