Health Soup

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Health Soup

This is a recipe for a very big batch, because it freezes well; in addition to death and taxes, we can be confident of future illness. If you want less soup, halve the recipe. If the sick person likes noodles when sick, I add a single serving of rice noodles for each serving, in the last few minutes of warming it.

Rating

Ingredients

  • 1package kombu (about 2 ounces, which is the size of a package)
  • 4quarts water
  • 2cloves garlic
  • 2 1/2cups dried bonito flakes
  • 1/2teaspoon chile flakes
  • 1/4cup dried shiitake mushrooms
  • 5tablespoons miso paste
  • 3cups chopped greens, like broccoli rabe, kale or stemmed collards
  • 1/2cup chopped scallions or spring onion
  • 1tablespoon fish sauce
  • 1-2teaspoons kosher salt
  • 1tablespoon sugar
  • 1block silken tofu, cut in half horizontally then into squares
  • 4cups chopped cilantro, or combination cilantro and basil
  • 1lemon
Set base servings to enable scaling:

Directions

Make dashi, either by following these instructions or by making 4 quarts instant. For homemade: Wipe kombu with a damp cloth, and break into a few pieces. Put in a pot with water. Bring almost to a boil, then turn off heat; remove kombu with tongs.

Add garlic, bonito flakes, chile and shiitakes. Bring to a boil, and let boil 30 seconds. Turn off heat. Let sit for 10 minutes. Drain through a colander into a bowl. Put dashi back into pot.

Add miso paste, and bring to a boil. Add greens and scallions or onion. Cook 3 minutes. Add fish sauce, salt and sugar. Lower to a simmer. Add tofu. Cook at bare simmer 10 minutes. Turn off. Add herbs.

Just before serving, squeeze lemon juice into soup, to the sourness that you like.

Soups

Source: https://cooking.nytimes.com/recipes/1017000-health-soup