A few weeks ago, my man and I were at Seoun, an amazing vegan place in the east village. As we both slurped down a heart-warming, belly-filling noodle soup, I thought to myself: WHY HAVE I NEVER MADE THIS?!?!
This was definitely outside my comfort zone so I googled a recipe to use as a general guideline and then, as usual, went rogue.
My ingredients were:
1 firm tofu block
3 Vegan bouillon cubes
2 Carrots
1 head of broccoli
1 small red pepper
A pack of dried mushroom medley
8 scallions (just the green parts)
6 garlic cloves (sliced)
¼ cup of fresh ginger (cubed)
A pack of kombu seaweed sheets*
sesame oil & tamari/soy sauce to taste
Like most soups, once you have the ingredients, you start with the base – your broth – and work in the veggies according to cooking time. Since I was using bouillon cubes with water to make my broth, I followed the package instructions and got myself to 7 cups of broth to a boil.
Then I added the ginger, garlic, red pepper and carrots. Followed by the mushrooms (which I had presoaked for an hr), the broccoli and the kombu.
I cooked it all for about 10-15 mins while separately prepping my gluten-free ramen noodles on the side (as per package instructions.) I HIGHLY recommend the King Soba black rice brand with 3 mins of cooking time and a beautiful purple hue.
Put the noodles in a bowl, add some sesame oil/tamari and green onions. Add the soup. Voila. Hopefully, you’ll have leftovers so you can prep a 5 min meal the next day.
The great thing about this is you can change the recipe to suit whatever vegetables you have!
(*What is kombu you ask? Why it’s a seaweed you can find in health food stores that tastes yummy, a great source of iodine which regulates your metabolism AND it’s an anticoagulant.)
WHAT I WILL DO NEXT TIME:
I will use vegetable broth not bouillon.
I would add in some Chinese cabbage or bok choy instead of broccoli.
I would use real mushrooms. There is something about those dried things that just irk me.
I give this a solid 8/10 with room for improvement!