Xiao Wan's Special Vegetable Soup

I spontaneously made soup for late lunch today as the weather was supposed to be overcast. I thought having some hot soup could make the weather somewhat bearable. Anyway, this soup is good for all seasons. It's healthy,soothing, tasty and complex.

When you look at the ingredients photo it might seem a bit complicated but the process is actually quite painless.


Ingredients:

• 1/2 of a medium sized carrot, cut into coins, then halved
  
• 1 ear of fresh sweet corn (shave the kernels)
  
• 1 fresh bamboo shoot, peeled and sliced (easily found in Chinese market)
• 1 leek (remove green ends) sliced into 1 inch pieces
  
• 1/4 of a medium sized bermuda, or sweet onion, quartered
  
• 2 small taro, about the size of a child's fist, diced into about six pieces each
  
• 1/3 of a medium sized daikon radish, cut into coins, halve each coin
  
• a handful of "Chinese mushrooms"(I always get these from chinese markets but never know the real name. I promise to update later)
• 2 small "chinese chili peppers", quartered (I have the same problem as "chinese mushrooms" but you can find them just about anywhere)
• 1 sahuaro pepper, halved
• 2 scallion, chopped
• 3 garlic cloves, crushed
• 3 slices of ginger
  

Seasoning:

• 3 tbsp of shao xing cooking wine
• 1 cup of somen seasoning soy sauce
• salt to taste
  
• ground white and black pepper
  
• 1/2 tsp of dark brown sugar
• 2 tbsp of soybean paste (if you prefer a stronger flavor you can add more but I personally think the soybean paste can be overpowering, so add in small bits and test it as you go)
  

Directions:

First, make the broth. Bring 16 cups of water to a boil. Add the onion, sahuaro pepper, carrot, ginger, garlic,taro and 1 scallion. Bring to boil again, then reduce heat to simmer for about 5 minutes.

Add 1 more cup of water, the daikon radish, bamboo shoot, mushrooms, leek, and sweet corn. Add shao xing cooking wine, or any kind of sake, somen seasoning soy sauce, dark brown sugar, salt, pinch of ground black and white pepper and soybean paste. Cook approximately 25 mins longer, or untill Daikon is semi-translucent.

The soup is now ready to serve.Add a few drops of sesame seed oil if you wish. Fresh, finely chopped scallions really top it off and are essential*.




* note: I discovered that adding freshly chopped scallion, at serving, to miso, or any kind of soup containing soybean paste, brings out the best flavor.