Hot and Sour Soup

Soup is one of the easies dishes to prepare, here is another simple and quick soup. If it is not spicy enough, just add some fresh chopped chilli padi into the soup!

Preparation: 8 mins, Cooking time: 10 mins

Ingredients (serves 2)
° 50g silken tofu, shredded
° 20g carrot, peeled and shredded
° 50g fresh shiitake mushroom or buna shimeji mushroom or king oyster mushroom, shredded
° small handful shredded black fungus, soaked
° 1 thin slice ginger, shredded
° 375ml water
° ½ teaspoon fine salted soy bean paste
° 1 teaspoon vegetarian oyster sauce
° ½ teaspoon pepper, or to taste
° 1 tablespoon tapioca starch, mixed with 1 tablespoon water
° 1 tablespoon apple cider vinegar, or to taste
° 1 stalk fresh spring onion, finely shredded or chopped

Method
1. Place the carrot, mushroom, black fungus, ginger and water in a pot. Bring to a boil and simmer for 5-8 minutes.
2. Add in the tofu and season to taste with vegetarian oyster sauce, salted soy bean paste and pepper. Stir in the tapioca starch mixture and bring to a boil.
3. Ladle the soup into individual serving bowls. Drizzle vinegar, garnish with spring onion and serve hot.

Spinach Soup with Shimeji Mushroom

This is a lovely emerald colour soup – light and sweet with blended spinach. I used kelps and sliced carrot, boiled for about 10 minutes to lend some flavour and sweetness to this soup, as I usually do not like to use seasoning or too lazy to spend hour in preparing broth or stock. I am trying to recreate the soup which I had at LingZhi Vegetarian Restaurant - Braised Spinach Soup with Enoki Mushrooms. . Sprinkle few thin shreds of nori on the soup, if desired.

Preparation: 10 mins, Cooking time: 15 mins

Ingredients (serves 2)
° 4 dried kelps in knot
° 1 carrot, peeled and sliced
° 1 slice ginger
° 375ml water
° 50g buna shimeji mushroom
° 50g spinach
° salt to taste
° 1 tablespoon tapioca starch, mixed with 30ml water

Method
1. Place the spinach with 1 tablespoon of water in a blender or food processor and blend well. Set aside.
2. Place the dried kelps, carrot, ginger and water in a pot. Bring to a boil and simmer for 8 minutes. Remove the ingredients with a slotted spoon and discard. Add the buna shimeji mushrooms and simmer for 2 minutes.
3. Stir in the spinach puree and tapioca starch mixture. Bring to a boil and season to taste with salt.
4. Ladle the soup into individual serving bowls and serve hot.

Quick Romaine and Enoki Mushroom Soup

This is a simple and easy soup to make, if you prefer not to stir fry and wanted something simple.

Preparation: 5 mins, Cooking time: 15 mins

Ingredients (serves 2)
° 100g romaine (cos lettuce)
° ½ carrot, peeled and cut into small chunks
° 50g enoki mushroom (golden needle mushroom), trimmed
° 1 slice ginger
° 500ml water
° 1 teaspoon preserved salted vegetable (tong chai)
° salt and pepper, to taste
° dash sesame oil (optional)

Method
1. Place the carrot, ginger and water in a pot. Bring to a boil and simmer for 10 minutes.
2. Add in the mushrooms, romaine, preserved salted vegetables bring to a boil. Season to taste with salt, pepper and sesame oil.
3. Serve immediately.

Vegetarian Bak Kut Teh (Vegetables Version)

With all these instant sachets, it makes cooking so much easier and it does not require any special culinary skill at all. I used to get the vegetarian bak kut teh pack that comes with herbal sachet and the mock meats which taste equally good. However, I don’t really like eating so much mock meats.

Now, I finally found the A1 vegetarian bak kut teh sachet that suits my palate. By using lotus roots instead of mock meats and increase the vegetables intake by adding rocket leaves, tang-O or lettuce, I can have vegetarian bak kut teh which consists of vegetables. For a quicker version, use shiitake mushrooms, beancurd puffs, as these ingredients take a shorter time to cook. Few pieces of mock meats can be added, if desired. This soup goes well with rice and a plate of freshly sliced red chilli with light soy sauce. Use this soup for noodle, you can have a bowl of vegetarian bak kut the mee.

Preparation: 10 mins, Cooking time: 35 mins

Ingredients (serves 2-3)
° 1 sachet A1 vegetarian bak kut teh
° 200g lotus root, thinly sliced
° 3-5 cloves garlic
° 1.25 litres water
° 100g rocket leaves or tang-O or Chinese lettuce, torn into big pieces
° salt and pepper, to taste
° light soy sauce, to taste
° a small handful fresh chopped spring onion or coriander leaves (optional), for garnish

Method
1. Place the vegetarian bak kut teh sachet, lotus root, garlic and water in a pot and bring to a boil. Simmer 25-30 minutes or until the lotus is tender. Add in the rocket leaves or tang-O or lettuce. Season to taste with salt, pepper and light soy sauce.
2. Ladle the soup into individual serving bowls, garnish with spring onion or coriander leaves and serve hot.

Quick Mini ‘Steamboat’ Soup

This is a one-pot wonder for days that are too tired to whip up a big meal. It is improvised from the steamboat which we usually have, using its few common ingredients. Carrot is used to sweeten the soup and by using Chinese celery leaves (tang o), it spices up the soup with a lovely taste. Other ingredients like yam slices, different type of mushrooms, cabbage, corn etc can be added, if desired. Taking care not to overload with too much ingredients, as it is not a real steamboat. It goes well with cooked rice and chilli or dipping sauces.

Preparation: 10 mins, Cooking time: 20 mins

Ingredients (serves 2)
° 1 carrot, peeled and cut into chunks
° 2 baby corns
° 4 fresh shiitake mushrooms
° 4 vegetarian fishballs
° 1 slice ginger
° 500ml water
° 4 small beancurd puffs
° 100g silken tofu, cubed
° 100g-150g Chinese celery leaves (Tang O)
° salt and pepper, to taste
° dash sesame oil (optional)

Method
1. Place the carrot, corn, mushrooms, vegetarian fishballs, ginger and water in a pot. Bring to a boil and simmer for 10 minutes.
2. Add in the beancurd puff, tofu, Chinese celery leaves and bring to a boil. Season to taste with salt, pepper and sesame oil.
3. Serve immediately.

Thunder Tea Rice Soup (Clear Soup)

Again, this is the improvised version of the thunder tea rice soup. The traditional way of making this soup is much more complicated, by using wooden pestle to grind all the ingredients until powdery. Then, hot water is poured into these ingredients like groundnuts, sesame seeds, green tea leaves, coriander, ngai etc. We just don’t have the luxury of the time!

What I did was, place the basic ingredients like basil leaves, mint leaves, coriander, and ginger with water in pot and bring to a boil to extract their contents, then mixed with green tea powder and the rest of the ingredients. It is easier, isn’t it?

Some herbs had been left out in this recipe, due to the difficulties in getting them. If you can’t find basil leaves, you can consider by replacing more mint leaves and coriander.

Preparation: 10 mins, Cooking time: 8 mins

Ingredients (serves 2)
° 50g-75g basil leaves (stems removed before weighing)
° 50g mint leaves (stems removed before weighing)
° 1 stalk (25g) coriander, with root
° 2 slices ginger
° 500ml water
° salt, to taste
° ½ teaspoon green tea powder, or to taste
° 1-1½ teaspoons roasted/toasted sesame seeds, finely pounded
° 1-1½ teaspoons peanut powder (optional)

Method
1. Place the basil leaves, mint leaves, coriander, ginger and water in a pot. Bring to a boil and simmer for 3-5 minutes. Remove all the ingredients with a slotted spoon and discard.
2. Season to taste with salt. Stir in the green tea powder, sesame seeds, peanut powder and mix well.
3. Ladle the soup into individual serving bowls, sprinkle few sesame seeds and serve hot.

Lotus Root Soup with Peanut

This is a simple and delicious clear soup that needs a little longer time to cook in order to have softer peanut. Lotus root is a good source of iron and vitamins. Mock meat can be added, if desired.

Preparation: 10 mins, Cooking time: 90 mins

Ingredients (serves 4)
° 250g lotus root, peeled and sliced
° 1 ear corn, cut into 4 pieces
° 75g raw peanuts, soaked at least for 4 hours and drained
° 8 seedless red dates
° 2-3 honey dates
° 1.5 litres water
° 1 slice ginger
° salt, to taste
° pepper, to taste
° a small handful fresh coriander leaves or spring onion, for garnish

Method
1. Place all the ingredients and water in a pot. Bring to a boil and simmer for 75 minutes or until all the vegetables are tender. Season to taste with salt and pepper.
2. Ladle the soup into individual serving bowls, garnish with coriander leaves and serve immediately.

Boxthorn Soup with Wolfberries

A quick and simple yet tonic soup, as in traditional Chinese medicine, wolfberries are believed to help both vision and kidney function. When stripping the leaves from the Chinese boxthorn (gou qi cai) for cooking, beware of the thorns!

Preparation: 5 mins, Cooking time: 15 mins

Ingredients (serves 2)
° 50g boxthorn leaves
° 1 slice ginger
° 1 tablespoon wolfberries (boxthorn berries), soaked
° 4 seedless red dates
° 500ml water
° salt, to taste
° sugar (optional), to taste
° sesame oil (optional), to taste

Method
1. Place the ginger, wolfberries, red dates and water in a pot. Bring to a boil and simmer for 5-10 minutes.
2. Add in the boxthorn leaves and bring to a boil. Season to taste with salt, sugar and sesame oil. Ladle the soup into individual serving bowls and serve hot.

Cranberry Bean Soup

I just love the colour and look of the Cranberry Bean (a.k.a Pearl Bean or Crab Eye Bean). Cranberry bean is sweet and nutty and can be used to make a good soup. It cooks quickly and become tender within 20 minutes.

Preparation: 10 mins, Cooking time: 20 mins

Ingredients (serves 4)
° 100g-150g cranberry beans
° 1 ear corn, cut into 4 pieces
° 1 carrot, peeled and cut into 1cm thickness
° 4 vegetarian stewed mutton (optional)
° 4 red dates (optional)
° 1 litre water
° 1 slice ginger
° salt, to taste
° pepper, to taste
° a small handful fresh coriander leaves (optional), for garnish

Method
1. Place all the ingredients and water in a pot. Bring the soup to a boil and simmer for 20 minutes or until all the beans are tender. Season to taste with salt and pepper.
2. Ladle the soup into individual serving bowls, garnish with coriander leaves and serve hot.

Quick Cream Corn Soup

This is the fastest cream corn soup that can be whipped up within 8 minutes.

Preparation: 3 mins, Cooking time: 5 mins

Ingredients (serves 2-3)
° 1 pack (380g) cream style sweet corn
° 2 fresh shiitake mushrooms, chopped
° 250ml water
° 1 tablespoon corn flour or tapioca flour, mix with 2 tablespoons water
° salt and pepper, to taste

Method
1. Place the sweet corn, mushroom and water in a pot. Bring soup to a boil and stir in the corn flour mixture and simmer for half a minute. Season to taste with salt and pepper.
2. Ladle the soup into individual serving bowls and serve hot.

Old Cucumber Soup

Home-made soups make an excellent contribution to the vegetarian diet. Try this simple and yet delicious old cucumber clear soup. The texture of cardoncello mushrooms is quite crunchy, making the most suitable mushroom for cooking soup.

Preparation: 10 mins, Cooking time: 40 mins

Ingredients (serves 4)
° 250g-300g old cucumber
° 50g-100g cardoncello mushroom (king oyster mushroom), shredded
° 1 ear corn, cut into 4 pieces
° 1 carrot, peeled and cut into 1cm thickness
° 10-12 dried kelps in knot
° 4 red dates (optional)
° 1.25 litres water
° 1 slice ginger
° salt, to taste
° pepper, to taste
° 1 tablespoon light soy sauce
° a small handful fresh coriander leaves (optional), for garnish

Method
1. Slice the old cucumber in half lengthways and scoop out the seeds with a small pointed spoon. Cut the flesh into 2.5cm pieces.
2. Place all the ingredients and water in a pot. Bring soup to a boil and simmer for 30 minutes or until all the vegetables are tender. Season to taste with salt, pepper and light soy sauce.
3. Ladle the soup into individual serving bowls, garnish with coriander leaves and serve.

Tip
1. Vegetarian mock meat and chinese wolfberries can be added, if desired.

Carrot and White Radish Soup

This is a simple and delicious clear soup using dried kelps and red dates that add lots of flavor to the soup.

Preparation: 10 mins, Cooking time: 40 mins

Ingredients (serves 4)
° 250g-300g white radish, peeled and cut into small chunks
° 1 ear corn, cut into 4 pieces
° 1 carrot, peeled and cut into 1cm thickness
° 10-12 dried kelps in knot
° 4 red dates (optional)
° 1.25 litres water
° 2-3 slices ginger
° salt, to taste
° pepper, to taste
° 1 tablespoon light soy sauce
° a small handful fresh coriander leaves (optional), for garnish

Method
1. Place all the ingredients and water in a pot. Bring soup to a boil and simmer for 30 minutes or until all the vegetables are tender. Season to taste with salt, pepper and light soy sauce.
2. Ladle the soup into individual serving bowls, garnish with coriander leaves and serve.

Tip
1. Vegetarian mock meat and chinese wolfberries can be added, if desired.
2. Add some shredded nori (seaweed) before serving, if desired.

Creamy Corn and Potato Chowder Soup

A quick cream corn soup with potato and cardoncello mushroom added.

Preparation: 5 mins, Cooking time: 15 mins

Ingredients (serves 2-3)
° 75g potato, peeled and cut into small dices
° 25g cardoncello mushroom/king oyster mushroom, cut into small dices
° 250ml water
° 1 pack (380g) cream style sweet corn
° 1 teaspoon tapioca flour or corn starch, mix with 1 tablespoon water
° salt and pepper, to taste

Method
1. Place all the potato and mushroom and water in a pot. Bring soup to a boil and simmer for 10 minutes or until all the vegetables are tender.
2. Stir in the sweet corn, corn flour mixture and bring to a boil. Season to taste with salt and pepper and light soy sauce.
3. Ladle the soup into individual serving bowls and serve.

Mixed Vegetables Soup

This is an easy-to-prepare healthy clear vegetable soup, which is real yummy.

Preparation: 10 mins, Cooking time: 25 mins

Ingredients (serves 4)
° 1 ear corn, cut into 4 pieces
° 1 carrot, peeled and cut into 1cm thickness
° 1 potato, peeled and diced
° 2 tomatoes, cut into 6 wedges
° 1 onion (optional), peeled and cut into 6 wedges
° 1.25 litres water
° 1 slice ginger
° salt, to taste
° pepper, to taste
° 1 tablespoon light soy sauce
° a small handful fresh coriander leaves (optional), for garnish

Method
1. Place all the ingredients and water in a pot. Bring soup to a boil and simmer for 20 minutes or until all the vegetables are tender. Season to taste with salt, pepper and light soy sauce.
2. Ladle the soup into individual serving bowls, garnish with coriander leaves and serve.

Tip
1. Vegetarian mock meat can be added, if desired.

Spicy Lemon Grass Soup (Tom Yum)

Spicy Lemon Grass Soup (Tom Yum)



Spicy Lemon Grass Soup (Tom Yum) with Tom Yum Paste, Tomatoes & Tofu

This delicious soup (Tom Yum) is one of the popular soups in Asia. Combining spicy and sour using mixture of herbs and seasonings is easy to make. The richness of the sour taste comes from the complement of the different citrus flavored ingredients.

Preparation: 10 mins, Cooking time: 15 mins

Ingredients (serves 4)
° 2-3 stalks fresh lemon grass
° 10-12 dried kelps in knot
° 4 slices fresh blue ginger (galangal)
° 8-12 straw mushrooms, halved
° 4-8 vegetarian fishballs
° 1.25 litres water
° 2 chilli padi, seeded and finely shredded
° 6-8 kaffir lime leaves, cut in half
° 3 tablespoons (5-6 limes) freshly squeezed kalamansi lime juice
° 3 tablespoons light soy sauce
° pepper and sugar, to taste
° a small handful fresh coriander leaves, for garnish

Method
1. Peel off the outer layers of the lemon grass stalks, leaving the tender whitish centre. Cut into 5cm pieces and bruised.
2. Place the lemon grass, dried kelps, ginger and water in a pot. Bring to a boil and simmer for 10 minutes. Remove the lemon grass and ginger with a slotted spoon and discard. Add straw mushrooms, vegetarian fishballs, lime leaves, chillies, pepper, sugar, lime juice and simmer for 3 minutes. Lastly, stir in light soy sauce and coriander leaves.
3. Ladle the soup into individual serving bowls and serve.

Tip
1. Commercial tom yum paste, button mushroom, tomatoes, silken tofu can be added, if desired.

Vegetarian Rice Soup

Asian loves to eat rice and this soup based on rice can be a simple and delicious snack. This is a true comfort food, feel free to add deep-fried vegetarian fish slice, tofu or just serve it simple with some garnishes.

Preparation: 10 mins Cooking time: 5 mins

Ingredients (serves 2-4)
° 100g rice, cooked
° 10-12 dried kelps in knot
° 2 shiitake mushrooms, finely shredded
° 1 thin slice ginger
° 1 litre water
° salt, to taste
° pepper, to taste
° 2 tablespoons light soy sauce
° 2 thin slices ginger, peeled and finely shredded
° 1-2 fresh red chilli padi or fresh chilli, seeded and finely shredded
° a small handful fresh coriander leaves, for garnish
° 1 spring onion (optional), finely shredded

Method
1. Place the dried kelps, mushrooms, ginger slice and water in a pot. Bring to a boil and simmer for 10-15 minutes.
2. Add the cooked rice, salt, pepper, light soy sauce and simmer for 2 minutes. Ladle the rice soup into individual serving bowls and garnish with shredded ginger, chillies, coriander leaves and spring onions. Serve immediately.

Tip
1. Cooked garlic can be added, if desired.

Vegetarian Miso Soup

Miso soup is a traditional Japanese soup consisting of a stock called "dashi" into which is mixed with softened miso paste. Usually, dashi broth and miso paste contains bonito, therefore fine salted soy bean paste with kelp or shiitake mushroom vegetarian dashi stocks can be used for making the vegetarian miso soup.

Preparation: 5 mins Cooking time: 15 mins

Ingredients (serves 2-3)
° 9-10 dried kelps in knot
° 2 thin slices ginger (optional)
° 750ml water
° 100g silken tofu, diced
° ¾ -1 tablespoon fine salted soy bean paste
° ½ tablespoon light soy sauce (optional)
° finely chopped spring onion or coriander leaves, for garnish

Method
1. Place the dried kelps, ginger and water in a pot. Bring to a boil and simmer for 10-15 minutes. Remove from the heat, stir in salted soy bean paste, light soy sauce and tofu.
2. Ladle the soup into individual serving bowls, garnish with spring onion or coriander leaves and serve immediately.

Tip
1. Dried kelps can be soaked, drained, cut into smaller pieces prior to be used in the soup, if desired. Or it can be discarded after simmering.
2. Soak ½ teaspoon of dried wakame seaweed in cold water for 5 minutes until rehydrated, drain well and added to soup, if desired.
3. Adding light soy sauce to substitute for fish sauce and to enhance the soup with some colour and taste.
4. Be careful not to boil the miso soup as this will diminish the flavour of the miso.

Winter Melon and Barley Soup

This is a simple and delicious soup. Barley is often used to make tasty and healthy beverages. Instead of adding sugar or honey, by adding salt and other vegetables, barley can also be used to make a nutritious soup.

Preparation: 10 mins Cooking time: 45 mins

Ingredients (serves 4)
° 250g winter melon, removed skin and cut into small chunks
° 1 ear corn, cut into 4 pieces
° 1 carrot, peeled and cut into 1cm thickness
° 1 tablespoon holland barley, washed and drained
° 1.25 litres water
° 1 slice ginger
° salt, to taste
° pepper, to taste
° 1 tablespoon light soy sauce
° a pinch mushroom/vegetarian seasoning (optional)
° a small handful fresh coriander leaves (optional), for garnish

Method
1. Place all the ingredients and water in a pot. Bring soup to a boil and simmer for 30 minutes or until the all the vegetables are tender.
2. Season to taste with salt, pepper, light soy sauce and mushroom/vegetarian seasoning.
3. Ladle the soup into individual serving bowls, garnish with coriander leaves and serve.

Tip
1. Vegetarian mock meat and chinese wolfberries can be added, if desired.

Simple Peppermint Soup

This is a very simple soup! It is real light and refreshing. My mom used to boil this quick soup with beaten egg. For this vegan version, egg is been omitted. Add one or two stalks of fresh corianders (with root) to boil the soup, if desired.

Ingredients (serves 2)
- 1-2 slices ginger
- 1 small bundle (50g) mint leaves
- 500ml water
- salt to taste

Method
1. Add the ginger to water and bring to a boil, simmer for 10 minutes and add in mint leaves.
2. Turn off when it starts boiling and season with salt.
3. Serve hot.

Quick Watercress Soup

This is a quick and simple soup which can be make in minutes, using watercress which is low in fat and yet a powerful source of nutrients.

Preparation: 10 mins Cooking time: 15 mins

Ingredients (serves 4-6)
° 200g watercress
° 5-6 dried kelps in knot or 1 ear corn, cut into 4-6 pieces

° 1 carrot, peeled and diced
° 1 slice ginger
° 4-6 seedless red dates (optional)
° 1.5 litres water
° salt, to taste
° pepper, to taste

Method
1. Place the kelps/corn, carrot, ginger, red dates and water in a pot. Bring to a boil and simmer for 10 minutes.

2. Add in watercress and turn off the heat when it boils. Season to taste with salt and pepper.
3. Ladle the soup into individual serving bowls and serve immediately.