Dashi broth can be made vegan with just two ingredients: Dried Shitake mushrooms and Kombu. Hot broth is then poured over raw or lightly steamed vegetables. A lid is placed over the soup for a few minutes to further steam or warm the vegetables.
You could call this soup a Pho (pronounced Faa), but I used potatoes rather than noodles in this soup.
Beautifully arranged vegetables make an artful presentation. The carrots are simply rolled up into each other and posed into a rose position by the other vegetables. No fancy cuts were necessary and this soup is stunning.
Place large cut, lightly steamed vegetables on top of your smaller cuts of vegetables, rice or potatoes for the best presentation.
I served the soup in a “donabe”.
A donabe is simply a serving vessel with a lid. It may be single or family sized. Generally ceramic or earthenware, a donabe is used for dishes like a hot pot, Pho or Shabu Shabu. Some donabe’s are safe for the cook top while others may be for presentation only. A family sized bowl might be placed on a hot plate.
A similar cooking vessel is the Korean dolsot, which is what they use for bibimbop.
Of course, fancy cookware isn’t necessary – but it is more fun! You could just as easily use any bowl and invert another bowl over it.
Try my hot and sour soup as well. It is a similar soup and uses the same method of cooking.
Asian vegetable soup
Ingredients
- 1 4" X 4" piece Kombu (don't rinse)
- 4 Dried shitake mushrooms
- 8 CUPS Water
- 2 Baby Bok Choy
- 1-2 Large carrot
- 1-2 Dried or fresh Thai chili peppers Sub 1 TSP pepper flakes
- 8 Mushrooms Sliced very thin
- 1 Cup Broccoli florets
- 1/2 Cup Red or green cabbage
- 8 Medium yukon potatoes
- 1/2 TSP Toasted Sesame Oil
- 1/4 TSP Black Pepper(Optional) To taste
- 1 TSP Crushed Garlic
- 1 TSP Ginger puree
- 1 TSP Thai Chili Powder Optional
- 1/2 TSP Corn starch (Optional)
- 4 Cilantro leaves Garnish
Instructions
- Put 8 cups water into a sauce pan with the shitake mushrooms and kombu. Set saucepan on high heat until the water comes to a boil then reduce to medium heat.
- Wash and trim potatoes. Cut into 1/2" wedges. Add to broth after 15 minutes.
- Remove outer leaves from baby bok choy's. Cut each in half. (Bok choy varies greatly in size. You can cut this smaller but be aware you will steam this over the soups and you will want to put 1/2 of each bok choy in each serving of soup.
- After adding the bok choy, set a steam basket over the soup and add in the bok choy and broccoli.
- Thinly slice mushrooms. Set aside.
- Chop the green onion and set aside for garnish.
- Peel carrot. Use a vegetable peeler to slice broad thin strips. Set aside.
- Add the garlic and ginger to the broth.
- When the shitake in the mushrooms are soft, add garlic, ginger and Thai chili powder to the broth. Fish out the kombu and shitake mushrooms. When the mushroom cools a little, you can slice them very thin and add them back into the broth..
- Divide soup between four bowls. Add to each bowl with a bok choy. Arrange carrot slices in a circular pattern to resemble a rose. Arrange mushroom slices. Top with, green onion and cilantro leaves. Cover each bowl for about 3-5 minutes. Serve and enjoy.
Notes
This is a Snap Pea Sheep recipe.
You can save time by using pre-made broth of choice. I often use Imagine No-Chicken low-sodium broth or Pacific mushroom broth.
Be aware that most pre-made broths are not 100% WFPB. Most have oil.
This Dashi is easy to make. Double the recipe and save half doe another meal. The broth is good for several weeks.
Dashi is a simple broth made of shitake mushrooms and Kombu simmered for an hour. You may use the dashi and slice the mushrooms from the dashi for your broth and your soup.
Use any combination of vegetables you wish. You may want to include bamboo shoots, snap peas, spinach, wakame, baby corn, edamame, Etc..
