Week 44 -- Hot and Sour Soup

This is one of my mom's favorite soups, and it was nice on a chilly fall day.  She wanted to make it, and I just hovered.  This soup was never one of my favorites, but I appreciate it much more as an adult than I did as a kid. 

I asked mom if she needed carrots for this soup, and she gave me a strange look and said, "Why would I put carrots in this?"  Then, half an hour later, as we sat down to eat, she looked in her bowl and said, "Oh, yes, I guess I do usually put carrots in this."  So, the moral of that story is that you should feel free to add some matchstick carrots when you make this soup.

Note that this soup does contain oil.  It is the only soup you will ever see on this blog that includes oil.  The sesame oil here is used only for flavor, not for cooking.  It adds some heat and deeper flavor.  Mom keeps some in the cupboard that is really used only for this soup.  It is only a tiny bit of oil, and it really adds to the flavor, but it is totally optional for those who are strictly oil-free or don't have sesame oil on hand.

This soup is very spicy.  It is about the upper limit of spice that I can handle (and only because the tofu mellows it a bit).  Feel free to cut down on the red pepper flakes if you want it a little calmer.  It should be noted that I am a spice wimp, so if you are a spice lover, go ahead and add some more pepper. 

Hot and Sour Soup

1 cup sliced mixed mushrooms
1/2 T molasses
1 T miso
4 cups water
1 T arrowroot dissolved in a little water
1/2 block tofu
1 Tbsp parsley
1/2 tsp sesame oil (optional)
1/2 tsp red pepper flakes
1 T apple cider vinegar

1. Saute the mushrooms in a bit of water. 
2.  Add the other ingredients.  Let cook until arrowroot cooks and thickens the soup (it will become clear when it's cooked).

Makes 2 servings.

Week 38 -- Cream of Mushroom Soup

This week's soup almost didn't get made.  It was super busy at my new job, and I am missing my own kitchen (along with my soup equipment: slow cooker, stock pot, immersion blender, etc.).  And then I wasn't feeling well this weekend. 

So late at night Mom helped me make one of her regular soups.  She uses this cream of mushroom as a base for green bean casserole, stroganoff, and other casseroles, but it's also good on its own, even though it's pretty rich.

Cream of Mushroom Soup

1 onion, minced
4-5 cloves garlic, minced
about 1/2 lb mushrooms, diced
2/3 cup cashews
1 tsp each savory, sage, and thyme
1 Tbsp miso
1 tsp molasses
1 Tbsp arrowroot
2 cups water
1 Tbsp parsley

1. Saute the onion and garlic in a little water until cooked.  Add mushrooms and cook until dark and softened.
2. Put cashews, savory, sage, thyme, miso, molasses, arrowroot, and water in blender and blend until smooth.
3. Pour cashew cream over mushrooms.  Heat until arrowroot thickens.  Add parsley.

Makes about 4 small servings.

Week 36 -- Not Chicken Soup

I'm now moved out of my apartment and living with my parents until things are settled with me buying a house, so I'm cooking in mom's kitchen for a few weeks.  Mom and I, though we both eat WFPB, have some very different cooking styles (and the different cooking equipment that comes with that), so it's taking some adjustment.

But the perk of living at home for a while is mom-made comfort food when you aren't feeling well.  I was feeling sup-par and mom and I (but mostly mom while I moaned melodramatically from my bed) made the classic comfort food of Not Chicken Soup.

This soup uses one of mom's favorite WFPB ingredients:  soy curls.  We avoided them for years, thinking they were highly processed protein chunks like those "chicken style" tvp chunks we ate in our early vegan days, but they are actually just whole soybeans that are somehow magically transformed into "meaty" strips.  Don't question the magic.

My dad loves his Not Chicken Soup with noodles.  We dove into the Bag O' Pasta that I brought from my apartment and decided to try the green bean vermicelli.  They were very strange looking -- clear and goopy and not unlike a sea creature -- but they tasted surprisingly perfect in the soup.

Tastes like coming home!

A big bag of soy curls ready to be transformed.

Not Chicken Soup

1/2 tsp turmeric
1 tsp sage
1 tsp savory
1 tsp thyme
Black pepper
2 Tbsp parsley
1/2 onion 
3 garlic
3 celery with leaves
4 carrots
1 tsp molasses
2 Tbsp nutritional yeast
Miso 2 Tbsp
Soy curls 1 cup
Noodles (optional)

1.  Chop all vegetables.  Put in pan with seasonings (except miso) and about 3-4 cups of water.  Simmer as long as you can stand it. (Add about 2 more cups of water eventually.  Add it gradually as needed.)
2. Rehydrate soy curls according to directions on the bag.  Add miso and soy curls to the soup and simmer a few more minutes until soy curls pick up some of the flavor.
3. Serve over noodles if desired.

Makes about 3 servings for hungry people.