Restaurant Worthy Hot & Sour Soup

If you like hot and sour soup. This is the real deal. No restaurant necessary. 

I wouldn't joke about this. I take my restaurant-worthy dishes very seriously.

This soup made me dance on my little tippy toes around the kitchen. Seriously. I've never been a particularly fervent hot and sour soup fan though, I always went the egg drop soup route. I loved me some egg drop soup. Nevermore! This soup is the bees knees. 

So hot and sour! Well...kind of hot. I'm a bit of a wimp when it comes to spicy foods. Unless we're talking ginger or wasabi. I'm all about that type of spicy! When I get sushi, I dip the pickled ginger into the wasabi and eat it plain, okay? You're impressed. I know. Watch out, BA comin' though. 

Feel free to add as much ground fresh chili paste as you'd like to this soup. I stuck with 1/2 tsp. because, like I said, a bit of a wimp here. I've made my peace with it. I just have dainty taste buds, okay?

Restaurant Worthy Hot & Sour Soup

Serves 4-6

• 1 Tbsp. olive oil
• 2 garlic cloves, minced
• 1 Tbsp. fresh ginger, peeled and minced
• 4 green onions, thinly sliced
• 8 oz. cubed seitan, chopped (or ground plant-based meat)
• 2 cups water
• 2 cups vegetable broth
• 1 lb. firm tofu, cubed small
• 10 cremini mushrooms, sliced
• 2/3 cup rice vinegar
• 3 Tbsp. soy sauce
• 1 Tbsp. sesame oil
• 1 tsp. vegan sugar
• 1/2 tsp. ground black pepper
• 1/2 tsp. ground fresh chili paste, to taste
• 1 1/2 Tbsp. cornstarch
• 2 handfuls of fresh spinach, torn (optional)

Notes: I added a bit of spinach, because that's how I roll but feel free to omit it if you like. 

In a large soup pot, heat the oil over medium-low. Add the garlic, ginger, green onions, and seitan. Saute for about 5 minutes, until fragrant and the seitan begins to brown.

(Do you like the repurpose of egg holder? It's a garlic holder now!) Add the water and the vegetable broth and bring to a simmer. Now, add the remaining ingredients, excluding the cornstarch and the spinach and stir well. 

In a small bowl, add about 1/2 cup of the soup broth. Whisk in the cornstarch until clump-free. Stir the mixture back into the soup to thicken it. 

Add the torn spinach and continue to simmer until the spinach has wilted and the soup has thickened slightly from the cornstarch. 

Remove from heat. Let the soup rest for a few minutes before serving.

Serve hot. 

Jammin' along to Josh Rouse – It's Good To Have You

"Coffee and a toast and a peppermint tea It's a little too cold to go outside  Wonder what would happen if you lived with me,  Oh oh, I got the feeling that it'd turn out nice Oh oh, it feels good to have you in my life."

German Word of The Day: Worthy --> Würdig (pronounced: ver-dich)

Good Deed of The Day: Sometimes I really hate our species. Sign this petition and help the Defenders of Wildlife tell the US Government to stop using your tax money to kill coyotes from planes. For real. I'm not onboard with that. 

[yumprint-recipe id='95']

Butternut Miso & Quinoa Soup

Are there people out there who're going about not liking miso? I can't imagine it. An absurd notion, for sure. Red miso is my favorite because it's the most misoy of all the misos. Why even bother with mellow yellow or boring white miso when you can have bold and radical red miso? I'm just a miso extremist I guess. 

This is an umami laden soup that's hearty enough for a meal. A miso-tahini broth stocked with butternut squash and yam, that's swimming with red quinoa and spinach. Topped with fresh avocado.

Butternut Miso & Quinoa Soup

Serves 4

• 4 cups water
• 1 4" piece of kombu (optional)
• 1 cup frozen cubed butternut squash
• 1/2 red garnet yam or sweet potato, diced
• 2 cup cooked red quinoa (I make lots and freeze it) 
• handful of spinach, chopped
• 3 Tbsp. red miso 
• 2-4 Tbsp. tahini
• 2 Tbsp. rice vinegar
• 1/2 avocado, diced
• fresh basil, for garnish (optional)
• sesame seeds, for garnish

In a medium soup pot, bring the water, kombu, squash, and yam to a boil then reduce to a simmer. Cook for 10 minutes over low, until the squash and sweet potato are tender. 

Add in the quinoa and the spinach. Cook for an additional few minutes, until the spinach has wilted. Remove from heat and allow to cool a minute or two. 

Meanwhile, in a small bowl add about 1/2 cup of the soup water. Whisk in the miso until smooth. Add the thinned miso to the soup pot. 

Repeat with the tahini. 

Add in the vinegar and the avocado. At this point you can remove the kombu and discard it, but better yet mince it up and add it back to the soup!

Serve hot and topped with fresh basil and sesame seeds. 

Listening to: [soundcloud url="https://api.soundcloud.com/tracks/113364689" params="color=63a88a&auto_play=false&hide_related=false&show_artwork=true" width="100%" height="166" iframe="true" /]

German Word of The Day: Butternut Squash --> Butternusskürbis (pronounced: booternuss-kurbis)

Good Deed of The Day: Sign this petition to stop the killing of 1,800 whales and dolphins and the deafening of 15,900 more by ceasing the operation of the Navy's underwater sound system in the Hawaiian Islands, the California and Atlantic Coasts, and the Gulf of Mexico.

[yumprint-recipe id='88']

Zingy Mexican Soup

Every now and again I end up creating a dish that I classify as "restaurant-worthy". This means that: a) I feel like I could find it in a restaurant b) I don't believe I could make it as good as this imaginary restaurant and c) it's a dish that I would order again and again. 

This soup is one of those dishes! I could not stop eating it as I was cleaning the kitchen. I kept stealing slurps here and there until I'm pretty sure I had two bowls, instead of just one. I think the dried mexican chili pod really gives it such an interesting and deep flavor so don't skip it! Not to worry if you're not into super spicy (like me). This soup is very mild just as it is. However, you're BA and want more heat, just up the amount of chipotle chili powder. 

Zingy Mexican Soup

Serves 4

• Peppers:
• 1 Anaheim or poblano pepper, toasted
• 1 dried mexican chili pod, toasted
• Aromatics:
• 1/2 Tbsp. olive oil
• 1 medium yellow onion, diced
• 2 large garlic cloves, minced
• 1 tsp. ground cumin
• 1/4 tsp. paprika
• 1/4 tsp. chipotle chili powder
• pinch of ground black pepper
• Soup:
• 4 cups vegetable broth
• 1 15 oz. can of tomato sauce
• 1 15 oz. can of hominy, rinsed and drained
• 1 15 oz. can of black beans, rinsed and drained
• Conclusion: 
• 1 corn tortilla, toasted
• 1/2 lime, juiced
• 1/4 cup fresh cilantro, chopped
• vegan cheddar cheese, for garnish

Notes: Anaheim and poblano peppers are not spicy at all. If you don't have a gas burner, you can broil both peppers in the oven for a few minutes. The dried chili pods can be found in the "Ethnic" section of your local grocery stores, they usually come in a large bag.

Begin by toasting the Anaheim or poblano pepper. Turn a gas burner to a low flame and set the whole pepper over the flame, rotating until the skin becomes blistered. It's okay if bits become charred. Remove from heat and immediately place in a bowl of cold water. When cool enough to handle, remove the tip, stem, and the seeds then dice. 

In a small frying pan, heat the dried chili pod over low heat for a few minutes, flipping halfway through until thoroughly heated. Remove from heat and set aside. 

Heat the oil in a large soup pot over low. Add the aromatic ingredients as well as the chopped poblano pepper. Saute for about 5 minutes, until the onion is tender. 

Add the soup ingredients. Remove the stem and seeds from the dried chili pepper and add whole to the soup. Almost bring to a boil over medium-high heat. 

Meanwhile, toast the tortilla over low flame. Keep flipping, taking care that it doesn't burn.

Remove the soup from heat and add in the lime juice and cilantro. Stir well, remove and discard the dried chili pepper. 

Serve the soup hot. Top with additional fresh cilantro and vegan cheese. 

Can't get this song, The Last Bison – Switzerland, out of my head!

German word of the day: Mexican --> mexikanish (pronounced: mexi-khan-ish)

Good deed of the day: This made my heart stop. Such sadness. If you're against boiling dogs (or other animals) alive, then for the love of god take 5 seconds to sign this petition to Stop Cooking Live Animals. Seriously, why wouldn't you?

[yumprint-recipe id='85']