Salted Vegetable Soup with Tom Yum Paste

Beginning of this year, I had a salted vegetable and tofu soup from Lotus Heart Tea House ( closed now :( ) in Chinatown. It tastes a little special and I think it had added Tom Yum paste to it. Therefore, I tried to recreate this but I choose to use king oyster mushroom instead of tofu just for fun. Use silken tofu, or deep fried firm tofu, if desired. If you want to taste how it likes and not wants to cook it, maybe you can try something a little bit similar at Naïve http://www.naivecompany.com/ , they serve a much better dish - “Ugly Duckling”. It is not soup but a dish that had tofu, specially cook fresh mustard with tom yam taste I think.

Preparation: 10 mins Cooking time: 50 mins

Ingredients (serves 2-4)
° 125g-150g salted preserved mustard, cut into pieces and blanched in boiling water for 3 minutes
° 100g king oyster mushroom, cubed
° 2 (100g) tomatoes, cut into 4 wedges
° 2 slices ginger
° 750ml water or vegetable stock
° 1 teaspoon white peppercorn
° 1 teaspoon light soy sauce
° 1 teaspoon vegetarian tom yum paste
° a small handful fresh coriander leaves or spring onion (optional), for garnish

Method
1. Place the salted preserved mustard, mushroom, ginger, water and pepper corn in a pot. Bring to a boil and simmer for 10 minutes.
2. Throw in the tomatoes and bring to boil for 3 minutes. Season to taste with light soy sauce and vegetarian tom yum paste.
3. Ladle the soup into individual serving bowls, garnish with coriander leaves or spring onion and serve hot.