Chow Vegan

This is not an authentic Vietnamese pho soup nor is it a traditional Chinese soup. What is it then? It’s my interpretation of the two meeting in a tasty bowl.

Like those old Reese’s Peanut Butter Cup commercials where the two ingredients collide and it taste great. But instead of chocolate and peanut butter, it’s a delicious blend of Vietnamese seasonings/garnishes and Chinese ingredients.

I use fresh flat rice noodles (ho fun) usually seen in Chinese stir-fry dishes. Made from rice flour, wheat starch and water, they’re actually great in soups and feels more substantial than the thinner types of rice noodles. If you can’t find them fresh, dried rice noodles can also be used.

Rice Noodle Soup
Serves 2

Soup Base
1 teaspoon vegetable oil
1 serrano chile pepper, thinly sliced crosswise
3-4 fresh shiitake mushrooms, sliced
1/2 ” piece of ginger, sliced
1 clove garlic, smashed and roughly chopped
4 cups water
1 tablespoon soy sauce
Salt

1/2 pound fresh thick rice noodles
10 small tofu puffs, can be substituted with baked tofu
1/2 pound Bloomsdale spinach or 2 cups sliced baby bok choy
1 lime, cut into wedges
2 tablespoons cilantro, chopped
2 tablespoons fresh basil, chopped
2 tablespoons fresh mint, chopped

If the rice noodles were refrigerated, they may be stuck together in a large block. Gently separate the noodles pieces into smaller pieces. It doesn’t have to be down to each individual piece as they’ll separate more when they cook.

Heat a wok until hot, add the oil and swirl to coat. Add the chile pepper and stir for a few seconds. Add the mushrooms, ginger and garlic, stir-fry for about a minute. Add the water, soy sauce and salt to taste, bring to a boil.

Add the rice noodles, when it comes to a boil, add the tofu puffs and spinach. Cook until the noodles are soft about 1-2 minutes more. Divide between two bowls and garnish with the cilantro, basil, and mint as desired. Serve immediately with the lime wedges to be squeezed into the soup to taste.

Jook, also known as rice porridge or congee is my idea of comfort food. It reminds me of Mom, home-cooking and all things good. For other people, it’s mac ‘n cheese, chicken noodle soup, buttery mashed potatoes or fill-in-the-blank.

It’s purportedly good for whatever ails you. Got digestive problems? Eat jook. Feeling under the weather? Have some jook. Have a hangover? Here’s a bowl of jook. Fortunately, I’m not dealing with any of those issues at the moment, I just like to eat jook for jook’s sake.

I make mine home-style with all sorts of goodies to flavor the jook while it’s cooking. It’s endlessly adaptable - add whatever ingredients you like, leave out the ones you don’t. My Mom likes a variety of ingredients in her jook, one of which is gingko nuts. I don’t like gingko nuts. I will actually pick them out of my bowl. Mom carries on that they’re expensive, I generously offered mine to her but she didn’t want them. Sorry Mom.

Restaurant-style jook is cooked plain and then topped with your choice of various condiments and garnishes. Sometimes I like to top mine with French’s French Fried Onions for a nice crunchy texture.

I learned to make jook in a large pot, nowadays, I use a fuzzy logic rice cooker with a porridge setting. It makes it super easy. I don’t have to monitor the rice cooker like I would with the pot and it’s a breeze to clean up.

Jook
Makes about 5 1/2 cups

1/2 cup long-grain white rice
4 dried Chinese mushrooms, soaked until soft, then chopped
2 1/2 tablespoons Tianjin preserved vegetable, rinsed
1 tablespoon minced ginger
3 ounces baked tofu, chopped
1 teaspoon white wine vinegar
1 teaspoon sesame oil
2 green onions chopped
Soy sauce

Cooking directions is for use with a rice cooker with a 5.5 cups capacity. Using the inner pot of the rice cooker, rinse the rice well in several changes of water until the water is clear. Add water to the marked level on the pot according to the rice cooker’s directions.

Add the chopped mushrooms, preserved vegetable, and ginger. Select the porridge setting to begin cooking. The rice cooker will do its thing while you relax. Occasionally, give the pot a stir. After about an hour and a half the rice cooker will beep that it’s done.

Add the tofu, sesame oil, and vinegar to the rice cooker. Press the reheat button to cook another 5 minutes, it’ll beep again when time is up. Ladle into bowls and garnish with green onions. Drizzle with soy sauce to taste.

Noodles make for a quick lunch whenever I’m in a time crunch. Easy to make and in about the same amount of time it takes to run out for fast food but so much better. The quickness comes from using pre-cooked noodles. You can find them in the refrigerated section of the Asian supermarket or at natural food stores for organic versions. For this recipe, I used Ohana House Chow Mein Style Noodles. They’re organic, vegan, fully cooked and have a relatively long shelf life in the refrigerator. They also make buckwheat soba and udon noodles. I didn’t mean to sound like a commercial; I now return you to your regularly scheduled program.

Chinese Noodle Soup
Serves 1

3 cups water or vegetable stock
3 small fresh shiitake mushrooms sliced
2 slices 1/4″ round fresh ginger
Salt
2 cups sliced baby bok choy or spinach or other greens
6 ounces cooked noodles
2 slices veggie bbq pork or baked teriyaki tofu julienned
Cilantro for garnish
Soy sauce (optional)

In a wok, add the water or stock, mushrooms, ginger and salt to taste. Bring to a boil and then turn down to a simmer. Meanwhile, wash and slice the bok choy into 3/4″ pieces. Add the greens to the wok and bring up the heat to medium. Cook for about a minute. Add the noodles and cook for 3 minutes or according to the package directions. Spoon into bowl and top with the veggie bbq pork or tofu and cilantro. Drizzle with soy sauce if desired.

No Croutons Required is a new monthly food blogging event hosted by Lisa’s Kitchen and Tinned Tomatoes. Each month bloggers are invited to submit a vegetarian soup or salad recipe; this month’s theme is vegetarian soup. My entry is the noodle soup which not only is no croutons required but you don’t need a spoon either. I like to eat my noodles the old-fashioned way with chopsticks or if I’m in a real hurry with a fork. I usually don’t drink the broth but if you must, go ahead and use a spoon or go old school and slurp from the bowl.

I haven’t had wonton soup for awhile now. Way back when I used to get the frozen pre-made vegetable dumplings, but they were just alright. I think that’s why I stopped buying them. Why was I buying frozen dumplings in the first place? I was busy with work and stuff and lazy too, what with all that vegetable chopping to make the filling. Anyways, since then I had an epiphany. In my previous post, I made a tempeh filling for yellow chile peppers. I don’t know why it never occurred to me before but I could use that for wontons. Duh!

Perusing the Asian supermarket, I found just two brands that make vegan wonton skins. The rest had eggs in them. I’m not sure what’s the difference between the two other than the packaging. It’s labeled that they’re from the same distributor. If I had to choose, I would go with the Dynasty brand. I seem to have better results with that one. Then again I haven’t actually made wontons in years and for the first batch I used the Myojo brand so that could have skewed the results. But either one would work.

Vegan Wonton Soup
Serves 2

Soup Base
4 cups water
4 dried chinese mushrooms, soaked in water until soft, discard the stems and slice the caps
2 cups chinese greens such as baby bok choy sum sliced on the diagonal into 3/4″ pieces or napa cabbage sliced into 2″ strips
2 slices of ginger
Salt

Start the soup base first, so it can simmer while you make everything else. In a pot, add the water, mushrooms, ginger and salt to taste and bring to a boil. Turn the heat down to simmer and leave until you’re ready to add the wontons. Just before the wontons are done, add the vegetables and turn up the heat to medium, cook for 3-4 minutes and then turn the heat off.

Wontons
16-20 wonton wrappers, allowing about 8-10 wontons per person
1/2 cup tempeh filling

In a separate large pot, fill with water about halfway and bring to a boil. Have a small bowl of water nearby to wet the edges of the wonton skins. Place 1 teaspoon of the filling off center towards a corner. Don’t overfill the wonton. If you’re too generous with the filling, the poor wonton will spill its guts when they’re cooking and it’s not pretty. Wet the edges with your finger, fold in half and seal the edges. Wet one of the side corners and bring the two corners together in an overlap and press to seal.

Add the wontons to the separate pot of boiling water on medium heat. Depending on the size of the pot, you may need to cook the wontons in batches, do not overcrowd the wontons. When the wontons float to the surface, they’re done. Lift the wontons out with a slotted spoon and drop into the soup base. Serve immediately with soy sauce or chili sauce condiments if desired.

Here I am in sunny California, only it’s not sunny, it’s cloudy and dreary. I tend to eat a lot more soup in the wintertime just to warm up. People in really cold areas are probably thinking I’m a wimp. Which I am. Corn chowder has to be one of my favorite soups - it fills the ol’ comfort food craving plus it’s low-fat, creamy and full of flavor.

Vegan Corn Chowder
Serves 2

1 teaspoon olive oil
1/2 small onion chopped
1 medium carrot sliced
2 stalks celery sliced
2 medium red potatoes cubed
1 cup vegetable stock or water
1 cup soy milk
1 cup corn kernels fresh or frozen
Cayenne pepper to taste (optional)
Kelp powder to taste (optional)

In a soup pot, heat the oil until hot, add the onions and saute until translucent. Add the carrots and celery, saute for a few minutes. Add the potatoes and vegetable stock. Cover, bring to a boil and cook over low to medium heat for 10 minutes. Add the soy milk and corn and simmer for 5 minutes. Puree 2/3 of the soup in a blender and return to pot. Stir to mix well. Add the kelp powder to individual bowls for a briny taste and top with cayenne pepper if using.

I’ve been eating yuan for as long as I can remember. Come to think of it, I never really knew why my mom made it, she just did. Apparently, it’s to celebrate the Winter Solstice. The round shape symbolizes family unity. It can be made either savory or sweet, we always have the savory, which I prefer. And nowadays, mine is a vegan version.

This last time I helped out with the prep work - cutting the napa cabbage, mushrooms and daikon. While cutting the daikon, mom walks by and tells me I’m cutting it all wrong. It’s at the wrong angle dummy and you’re too slow but you know in a kind, motherly sorta way. Meanwhile, she was making the glutinous rice dough into the round yuans and by the time I was done with the cutting, she was done with the yuan making. I guess I really was slow. I was going to measure and write down the recipe but she’s already finished. Okay, I’ll just get it next time. Mom said I can make it anytime, it’s easy. Ha! I once tried making the yuans myself, rolling a piece of the dough between the palms to make the round shape. They came out kinda lumpy looking, poor misshapen balls. Then mom showed off by making two at a time. I said shut up but you know in a loving, daughterly sorta way.