Thomas Fuller, 1732:
“Of soup and love, the first is the best.”
I would say friendship and soup can be placed parallel as both gives warmth and comfort. Friends tend to ease out our feelings and act as anti depressant agents. Soups provide comfort and are welcome at anytime of the day. Indeed soups can be served as appetizers or can be had as a meal.
Here is one such soup using Bok Choy (Chinese cabbage) and Shiitake mushrooms. My friend Menaka Gopi, living in Singapore, needs help with the recipes that use the many varieties of greens and mushrooms available in Chinese stores. Hope this post will give her an idea on where to begin with the Chinese greens and mushrooms.
Bok Choy, good source of calcium, vitamin A and C, is also low in calories. It may also help prevent cancer by eliminate carcinogens.
Shiitake mushrooms can reduce blood pressure and lowers cholesterol regardless of the dietary fats being eaten. If you are on weight loss plan, go ahead and purchase shiitake mushrooms.
Ingredients
- Bok Choy (leaves) – 1 cup (blanched)
- Shiitake mushrooms – 1 cup
- Spring onions- 1 bunch
- Garlic (cloves) – 3 (minced)
- Ginger – 1 inch piece (chopped)
- Soy sauce/ tamari – 3 tablespoons
- Bay leaf – 1
- Chili flakes – ½ teaspoon
- Bok Choy stems – 3 ( cubed)
- Tofu ( firm) – 10 pieces ( cubed) ( optional)
Directions
1. Cut the leaves from the stems of Bok choy and wash them well. To blanch them, chop them into pieces and plunge them into a pot of boiling water, let stand for 3 minutes and rinse them in cold water. Set aside.
2. Snip the stems of the mushrooms, wash them and chop them into pieces. Wash the heads of the mushrooms and set them aside.
3. In a large bowl, add Bok Choy stems, mushroom stems, chopped spring onions, bay leaf, chilli flakes, soy sauce, ginger and garlic. Add 6 cups of water and bring them to rolling boil. When it reaches the boiling point, simmer the stove and let it boil for another 50-60 minutes. you will notice after 60 minutes, water would have reduced to half the quantity.By this time , water in the pot would be ingested with nutrients from the veggies.
4. Switch off the stove, strain the water, reserve the stock and discard the veggies.
5. Chop the reserved mushroom heads and stir fry them in a pan for 3 to 5 minutes until crisp and tender. Sprinkle a dash of salt to the mushroom and stir in Bok Choy leaves. Add the stock and bring it to boil. Add tofu pieces if adding them.
6. Switch off and serve.
Variations
You can add 1/2 cup of noodles to step 5 to make it starchy noodle soup.