Category:
Soups & Stews

Mosaic Soup

Ingredients:

garlic
onion
Scotch Bonnet capsicum
ginger root
Curcuma (turmeric) root
rice vinegar
salt
rice wine or sake
hijiki (sea vegetable)
'tree's ears' fungus
bok choy
winter melon (squash)
soja bean curd
cilantro
sesame oil

Grind, blend or chop finely a large clove of garlic, a small onion, a Scotch Bonnet capsicum (minus its seeds,) a knob of ginger root the size of the end joint of your thumb, and a knob of Curcuma (turmeric) root half the size of that. Put these into a pan with a teaspoon of rice vinegar, half a teaspoon of salt and two liters of boiling water. Add a tablespoon of rice wine or sake, a heaping tablespoon (dried product) of hijiki,* and a small handful of dried tree's ears fungus* reconstituted in cold water. Bring back to the boil and simmer for ten minutes.

Add as much as two cups of chopped bok choy stalks. Simmer for three minutes.

Add a cup or so of small chunks of peeled white-fleshed winter melon*and simmer for five minutes.

Add two squares of soja bean curd, cut into small dice. Bring back to the boil, cover and remove from the fire. Let it stand for five minutes. Stir, and sprinkle with chopped cilantro and a few drops of sesame oil. Serve with hand cut noodles if you've the time to make them.

Notes:

*hijiki is one of the commercially prepared Japanese sea vegetables. It is very flavourful and also rich in calcium.
*Auricularia auricula, this cultivated fungus is available in Oriental stores dried. Pinch off the area where the fungus was originally attached to the tree; it is tough.
*They will hack off a chunk of this cucurbit in the Asian grocery store for you; it is generally sold by weight. Pare away the waxy green skin. Substitute any other squash.

Recipe Index

More Soups:

 Roast Garlic Soup | Collards and Lentils |  Bitter Chiffonade |  Bamboo Stew | Barley and Lentil Cottage Pottage | Carrot and Ginger Soup | Souped Up |