Five Spice Soup
Difficulty Level Easy
My family are all big fans of Chinese food. I remember when my son and I first discovered five spice, we cooked Chinese banquets for weeks. Hugh is particularly enamoured of it and always find new ways to use it. He won't make an apple pie without it anymore, using five spice in the place in cinnamon.
You can experiment and make your own five spice powder, rather like making your own curry powder. You can put in equal amounts of cinnamon, anise, cloves, ginger and coriander, or put a little more weight on one particular spice if you prefer. I adapted this recipe a bit. It originally called for four hard boiled eggs to be added, but I left them out as a matter of personal preference. I also just added the sweet potato to the pot and cooked it with the rest of the soup rather than roasting it first as suggested in the original recipe. I also didn't have any asian greens, but I tossed in a few mushrooms I had on hand.
INGREDIENTS
| 6 cups | vegetable broth or water |
| 1/2 pound | firm tofu |
| 2 tsp | Chinese five-spice powder |
| 1 large | shallot head, sliced thinly |
| 3 cloves | garlic, crushed |
| 2 tbsp | black bean sauce |
| 1 tbsp | soy sauce |
| 1 bunch | tatsoi, chopped (substitute spinach, cabbage or other vegetables) |
| 1 | large sweet potato, sliced |
| 2‑3 small | turnips, cut into bite-size pieces (about 2 cups) |
| 2‑3 | scallions, cut on the bias |
| handful of cilantro | |
| 1 | package buckwheat soba noodles, cooked according to package directions |
PREPARATION:
- Heat several tablespoons of oil in large soup pot. Saute shallots and garlic just until they start to brown. Add spice powder and tofu, stir-frying to coat (add additional oil if needed). Add soy sauce, black bean sauce, broth, sweet potatoes and turnips. Bring to a boil then reduce heat, cover and cook until turnips and sweet potatoes are cooked about 20 minutes.
- Add tatsoi and cook 5 more minutes. Adjust seasonings to taste.
- To serve, scoop some noodles into a large bowl, spoon soup over noodles. Garnish with cilantro and scallions.
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