During cold rainy days it is always good to cook some delicious and healthy soup to warm the body. It can be thick soup - bisques and chowder or clear soup. Bisque is generally smooth (for example, lobster bisque) while chowder is chunky (for example, seafood chowder). Clear soup can be meat soup or just pure vegetable soup or a combination of both.
Vegetable soup is usually made with onions, potatoes, carrots, celery, chopped tomatoes, green beans and corn and seasoned with salt and pepper. Sometimes bay leaf and thyme are added to make the soup even more flavourful.
Ingredients:
- 1 ear of corn
- 2-inch thick of yam
- 2-inch thick of pumpkin
- 1 small orange sweet potato
- 1 small carrot
- 4 leaves of napa cabbage
- 6 pieces of straw mushroom (can be replaced with Enoki mushroom)
- 4 pieces of dried Shiitake mushroom
- 2 1/2 lit of water
- Seasonings - salt and pepper
- Cooking oil
Method:
- Remove the green husk and silk of the corn. Wash and cut it into 3 portions.
- Peel and wash the yam. Slice it into 1/2 inch thick.
- Peel and wash the pumpkin. Slice it into 1/2 inch thick.
- Peel and wash the orange sweet potato. Cut it into 1/2 inch thick.
- Peel and wash the carrot. Cut it into small wedges.
- Wash and cut the napa cabbage into 1 1/2 inch length.
- Wash and half the straw mushroom.
- Wash, soak till soft and quarter the Shiitake mushroom.
- Heat up wok with cooking oil.
- When oil is hot, deep fry the yam, pumpkin and orange sweet potato. This is to prevent them from becoming mushy and clouding the soup during boiling.
- Scoop them up into a bowl when they are a bit brown. Pour hot water over them to remove the oil. Pour away the water and set aside the fried yam, pumpkin and orange sweet potato.
- In a pot, bring the water to a boil. Add corn, carrot and Shiitake and straw mushrooms and let the water simmer for 30 minutes.
- Then add the yam, pumpkin and sweet potato. Continue to simmer till they are soft. you may scoop them up into a serving bowl when they are soft.
- Add the napa cabbage.
- Add the seasonings (according to taste).
- Let the soup boil. Then turn off the fire and cover the pot. (The napa cabbage will become tender without further boiling.)
- Serve the soup piping hot.