Asian Two Mushrooms Soup

After the heavy carbonara dish the day before, I felt so bloated the whole day. My body was screaming for something clear, healthier and also a little bit acidic to wash away the cloying feel I had.

I made this up as I cooked along in the kitchen, throwing in the ingredients readily available in the house. It turned up well, and I was happier after this rich anti-oxidant soup.

Ingredients (Serve 2 – 3)

• 500ml of water
• 1 tbsp of red miso paste
• 1 tbsp of mirin
• 1 tbsp of light soya sauce
• 1 tbsp of rice vinegar
• 8 soaked and drained dried shitake, sliced
• 200 g (1 pack) of beech mushrooms, separated
• 2 stalks of spring onions, chopped
• 1 sachet (8g) of granulated dashi or 1 vegetable/chicken stock cube
• 3 slices of ginger

Preparation

1. When the water simmers in the pot, keep it simmering, add in stock granules to dissolve.
2. Add in miso paste to dissolve into the stock liquid. Season with soya sauce, mirin and rice vinegar.
3. Toss in shitake slices, beech mushrooms, ginger to simmer through for another few minutes.
4. If you like to have a poached egg, poach one now before serving.
5. Turn the heat off and sprinkle chopped spring onions to finish off.
6. Serve it with a dash of white pepper.

The soup base would turn darker in the process because dried shitake would continue to release its own natural juice/colour while being cooked away. Nothing to worry about. In fact, shitake is used to whip up vegetarian dashi stock.

P/S: By the time you are reading this, I’m halfway through my trip to Ipoh, Malaysia (2nd largest city) to indulge myself in the famed local Ipoh food. The past two posts were scheduled for auto publish. I will be back in a few days time with pictures. Stay tuned!

 

Mango w/Chilli Soya Sauce

Thought you misread the title? This is something I learnt from my mum.

Just like balsamic vinegar with strawberries, this combination is delicious. The saltiness in soya sauce enhances the sweetness of mango and further reinvent another taste dimension.

You could use unripe or ripe mangoes, very versatile. Best served chilled.

Ingredients (Serve 2)

• 1 ripe mango, sliced out
• 2 1/2 tbsp of light soya sauce (any type)
• 1 – 2 chopped bird’s eye chillies

Preparation

1. Once you get the three ingredients ready by your side, take out a salad bowl.
2. Have the mango slices in the bowl first, sprinkle chopped chillies evenly over the mangoes then drizzle the soya sauce over it. Stir through evenly.
3. Then, let them sit in the fridge for at least 1/2 hour before enjoying it.

If using unripe mango, this dressing works as well. Do as above, just add sugar to taste in step 2.

 

Aged Balsamic in 10 min!

Want to turn a cheap commercial balsamic vinegar into a more expensive aged one? Do the following and you will get it.  I wouldn’t say this tastes like the expensive counterpart, but almost.

this is not dark soya sauce, it’s the results of ‘aged’ balsamic vinegar

Ingredients

• 250 ml, typical volume of cheap commercial balsamic vinegar
• 5 tbsp of brown sugar

brown sugar and balsamic vinegar boiling away

Preparation

1. Pour the balsamic vinegar into a saucepan to boil through for about 5 minutes until it thickens a little.
2. Add in sugar, spoon by spoon into the boiling vinegar, keep shaking the pan at the same time to mix evenly.
3. Let it boil through for another 5 minutes until it thickens further.
4. It depends, for me it took about 10 minutes to reach the consistency I like.
5. If you prefer it to be more viscous,  it would need more brown sugar and more time to boil.

Cool the ‘aged’ balsamic before using a funnel to pour it back into the same bottle for future use.