A Simple Bowl of Green Tea Soup

Finding all ingredients for making the Thunder Tea Rice Soup is getting difficult as some of the ingredients are not easily available.  Here is a very simplified soup! Grounded peanut powder can be added, if desired.

This reminds us how much effort by many people and the natural gifts (sunshine, rain, soil) went into growing, harvesting, processing, cooking and serving the food that we eat every meal. How blessed we are!  When we are hungry, we have food.  Living in this era, we get to taste different wonderful and scrumptious cuisines even without having to step out of the country. Maybe, when we have our meal, just be thankful.  

Preparation:     8 mins Cooking time:  8 mins

           

Ingredients (serves 2)

°         25g mint leaves (stems removed before weighing)

°         25g coriander

°         500ml water

°         salt, to taste

°         granulated mushroom bouillon (optional), to taste

°         1½ teaspoon green tea powder, or to taste

°         some roasted/toasted white sesame seeds, for garnish

Method

1.      Place the mint leaves, coriander, and ginger in a blender with 125ml of water. Blend well and set aside.

2.      Pour 375ml of water into a pot and bring to a boil. Stir in the vegetable puree and bring to a boil.

3.      Season to taste with salt, granulated mushroom bouillon and stir in the green tea powder.

4.      Ladle the soup into individual serving bowls, sprinkle some sesame seeds and serve hot. 

Quick Pumpkin 'N' Mushroom Soup

GONG XI FA CAI - Toast to a year of Prosperity, Health and Good Fortune! 

We had a delectable CNY Set meal @ Whole Earth Vegetarian Restaruant, early this month. They have a delectable Doubleboilded Golden Pumpkin Sharksfin Soup (Photo of Whole Earth's Golden Pumpkin Sharkfin) which my young man loves it so much. As this is special sharkfin soup in the restaurant that comes with the CNY Set, I can't just order this dish alone, I guess.

So, I cooked this simplified version for my young man. The taste is not exactly the same as I omit lots of other ingredients which the restaurant used, are rather expensive during Chinese New Year period, like the Vegetarian Shark Fin cost $12.50 instead of $8.50 few months back. And I don't really want to keep so much ingredients in my already pack refrigerator, therefore, simplified it. Add in more ingredients, if desired, just ensure ingredients balanced well.

Preparation:     10 mins, Cooking time:  25 mins 

           

Ingredients (serves 2)

°         200g pumpkin (weight after peeling), small chunks

°         50g shitake mushroom, sliced

°         50g enoki mushroom, base trimmed

°         500ml water or vegetable stock

°         1 piece (25g) vegetarian ham, sliced thinly

°         salt and pepper to taste

°         granulated mushroom bouillon (optional), to taste

°         1½ teaspoon corn starch, mix with 1 tablespoon water

°         some coriander,  for garnish

Method

1.      Place the pumpkin in a steamer and steam for 5-10 minutes or until tender.

2.      Transfer to a blender or food processor and add in water or vegetable stock. Blend until smooth and creamy.

3.      Place the mushrooms, vegetarian ham and pumpkin puree in a pot and bring to a boil. Simmer for 10 minutes. Season to taste with salt, pepper, granulated mushroom bouillon and thicken with corn starch.

4.      Ladle the soup into individual serving bowls, garnish with fresh coriander leaves and serve.

Simple Willow Mushroom 'N' Solomon's Seal Soup

In 2010, most likely I will be very busy and posting very few recipes. I still have 10-20 veg*n dishes on my recipe to-do list which I guess when time permit then I will post and share with all. Really appreciate the lovely comments, the encouraging emails etc that I received regarding this blog.  Here is an herbal soup recipe which I done last year to share.

Spot some fresh willow mushroom (tea tree mushroom) - 150g @ $$2.55, at the supermarket last year and could not resist buying this unique mushroom. And use it to whip up this quick and simple soup. The willow mushroom imparts a unique flavour to this soup. Add some dried mushroom if desired, it will gives this soup a much stronger flavour and darker shade.  You can opt to boil this soup longer but remember to increase the amount of water when needed.  

Preparation:     10 mins Cooking time:  20 mins

           

Ingredients (serves 2)

°         150g fresh willow mushroom, base trimmed

°         10g solomon's seal/yu zhu

°         6 seedless red dates

°         1 slice ginger (optional)

°         3/4 tablespoon wolfberries, soaked

°         750ml water or vegetable stock

°         salt and pepper to taste

°         granulated mushroom bouillon (optional), to taste

°         some fresh coriander leaves, for garnish

Method

1.      Place willow mushroom, solomon's seal, red dates, ginger and water in a pot. Bring soup to a boil and simmer for 15 minutes.

2.      Throw in the wolfberries and season to taste with salt, pepper and granulated mushroom bouillon.

3.      Ladle the soup into individual serving bowls, garnish with fresh coriander leaves and serve.

Soy Bean 'N' Edamame Bean Clear Soup

This is an accidental creation and therefore I didn't note down the ingredients required.  I was making some soybean stock and have some edamame beans in the refrigerator.  So, I dropped some  edamame beans to this simple clear soup, it adds colour to the presentation.

Recipe? When I make this again ...

Watercress Miso Soup

Yes, it can be so simple and yet delicious. Add udon or rice vermicelli to this, you have a bowl of noodle soup.

Preparation:     8 mins, Cooking time:  8 mins  

           

Ingredients (serves 2)

°         100g watercress

°         500ml water

°         1 slice ginger

°         Miso to taste

°         Some sesame seeds or chilli flakes or wolfberries, for garnish

Method

1.      Place the ginger and water in a pot and bring to a boil.

2.      Add in watercresss and season to taste with miso.

3.      Ladle the soup into individual serving bowls and garnish with sesame seeds or chilli flakes or wolfberries.

4.      Serve immediately.

Easy Shark’s Fin Melon Soup

I had some shark’s fin melon left after whipping up the Mock Shark’s Fin with Shark’s Fin Melon recipe. What I did was cut the Shark’s Fin Melon into thin shreds, together with carrot shreds, enoki mushroom, ginger and water (enough to cover 1cm above the ingredients in a pot) and threw them into a claypot.  Bring to a boil and simmer till the ingredients tender. Season to taste with salt, pepper and granulated mushroom bouillon. Garnish with few drops of fragrant oil and spring onion shreds and 1-2 slices of chilli (optional).

And here, a bowl of piping hot  -  Easy Shark’s Fin Melon Soup … 

Another Winter Melon with Miso Soup

Having over 650 recipes, I really cannot remember what I had created and have long stop printing out a hardcopy (or tag the photo index to them). It was only I had whip up this soup and starting to type out the recipe that I discovered that I have something rather similar - winter-melon-miso-soup! Anyway, this is yummy too. Next round, maybe I should try to marry matcha with miso.

Sometimes, I am thinking, maybe this is more than enough, even if I re-cook one dish per day, it needs more than 1 year to complete them. However, this does not mean, there are no more veg*n dishes to be created, in fact, there are still a lots more even we doesn’t need to veg*nise those meat dishes. Even by glancing through non-vegetarian cookbooks, those beautiful photo of the dishes, the presentation, the colour can easily inspired one to come up with a new veg*n dish.

Living in a Food Paradise country, there is a saying if you love Asia Food and can only go to one place, make it Singapore. Over the years, by intermingling of ingredients and spices from nearby cultures and also internationally, lead to Singapore’s distinctive fusion cooking that might not be easily found in Asia at this level. And the surviving of diversified Veg*n culinary in Singapore where a nation past time is eating, is a BIG achievement. That tell something – Veg*n food here is excellent.

Today, the veg*n food here is moving up another level, it is not just limited to hawker’s food or street food , it is now going into a new trend - wholesome organic food, fine food, tonic food and in future, we might find more and more good up-scale Veg*n Cuisine restaurants as the world is moving towards a more healthier lifestyle and going meatless more often.

Preparation: 10 mins, Cooking time: 10 mins

Ingredients (serves 4)
° 150g winter melon, thinly sliced
° 75g king oyster mushroom, thinly sliced
° 25g carrot, peeled and thinly sliced
° 1 tablespoon wolfberries, soaked
° 1 slice ginger
° 750ml water
° 1 tablespoon miso paste or to taste
° freshly chopped spring onion or coriander leaves, for garnish
° 2 slices fresh red chilli (optional), finely chopped for garnish

Method
1. Place the winter melon, mushroom, carrot, ginger and water in a pot. Bring to a boil and simmer for 5 minutes or until the ingredients are soften.
2. Add in the wolfberries and season to taste with miso paste.
3. Ladle into individual serving bowls, garnish with spring onion or coriander leaves and chilli.
4. Serve immediately.

Bitter Gourd and Tofu Soup

The colour of this soup looks beautiful, green, orange, white and maroon! And most importantly, it is simple to whip up. Here is some cool fact about Bitter Gourd or Bitter Melon:

Bitter gourds are very low in calories but dense with precious nutrients. It is an excellent source of vitamins B1, B2, and B3, C, magnesium, folic acid, zinc, phosphorus, manganese, and has high dietary fiber. It is rich in iron, contains twice the beta-carotene of broccoli, twice the calcium of spinach, and twice the potassium of a banana.
Bitter melon contains a unique phyto-constituent that has been confirmed to have a hypoglycemic effect called charantin. There is also another insulin-like compound known as polypeptide P which has been suggested as insulin replacement in some diabetic patients.
Source: http://www.juicing-for-health.com/bitter-gourd-benefits.html

Preparation: 5 mins, Cooking time: 10 mins

Ingredients (serves 2-4)
° 100g bitter gourd, sliced
° 1 (125g) firm tofu, cubed
° 25g carrot, sliced
° 6 seedless red dates (optional)
° 1 slice ginger
° 750ml water or vegetable stock
° salt and pepper, to taste
° granulated mushroom bouillon (optional), to taste
° crispy ginger shreds (optional)

Method
1. Add 1 teaspoon of salt to the bitter gourd slices and mix well. Let it stands for 10-15 minutes and rinse off the salt. Drain well and set aside.
2. Place the ginger, water/vegetable stock, red dates in a pot. Bring to a boil and simmer for 5 minutes.
3. Add in bitter gourd, tofu, carrot and bring to a boil for 2 minutes or until the vegetables are tender. Season to taste with salt, pepper and granulated mushroom bouillon.
4. Ladle the soup into individual serving bowls, garnish with crispy ginger shreds and serve immediately.

Simple Rice Soup

This is an easy-to-prepare clear rice soup. Don’t discard the kelp, use it to make a mini side dish – Seasoned Kelp http://crystalbyblog.blogspot.com/2007/08/seaweed-salad.html.

Preparation: 5 mins, Cooking time: 15 mins

Ingredients (serves 1)
° 1 bowl cooked plain white
° 10 kelps in knot
° 5 seedless red dates (optional)
° 1 slice ginger
° 500 ml water or vegetable stock
° salt and pepper to taste
° granulated mushroom bouillon (optional), to taste
° few drops sesame/shallot oil (optional)
° small handful freshly chopped coriander leaves or spring onion, for garnish
° 1-1½ tablespoons vegetarian meat floss
° some nori shreds
° small handful freshly chopped spring onion (optional)

Method
1. Place kelps, ginger, red dates and water in a pot. Bring to a boil and simmer for 10 minutes. Remove the kelps, red dates and ginger. Season to taste with salt, pepper, granulated mushroom bouillon and sesame/shallot oil.
2. Place a bowl of rice on a serving plate, top with vegetarian meat floss and nori shreds. Garnish with coriander leaves or spring onion.
3. Ladle the soup on the bottom of the rice and serve immediately.

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.

Quick Pumpkin Clear Soup

Simple and easy, because I am lazy and does not have much time lately! Have to come back to spend more time on recipes ... For a different twist, use miso paste to replace all the seasoning … I accidentally put a little more oil in the soup for the picture taking, oil can be omited.

Preparation: 10 mins Cooking time: 15 mins

Ingredients (serves 2)
° 125g pumpkin (weight after peeling), small chunks
° 10 kelps in knots
° 6 seedless red dates
° 1 slice ginger
° 375ml water or vegetable stock
° salt and pepper to taste
° granulated mushroom bouillon (optional), to taste
° sesame oil or fragrant oil (optional), for garnish

Method
1. Place the pumpkin, kelps, red dates, ginger and water in a pot. Bring soup to a boil and simmer for 5-10 minutes or until the pumpkin is soft.
2. Season to taste with salt, pepper, granulated mushroom bouillon and sesame or fragrant oil.
3. Ladle the soup into individual serving bowls, garnish with fresh coriander leaves and serve.