Wednesday, September 25, 2013

Fresh Shiitake Mushroom Soup 鲜香菇小白菜汤

With homemade chicken stock (or even vegetable broth/stock), it was definitely easier to cook anything - at least, I did not have to wait too long for flavors to develop in a slow mellow-simmer soup or stew. This quickie Fresh Shiitake Mushroom Flat Rice Noodle Soup was put together in less than 30 minutes. Make it lunch or dinner!


For a quick-cooking soup like this, fresh mushrooms is usually my preference compared to the dried version.  The fresh variety has lighter flavors compared to the intense dried shiitake mushrooms which is often a better use in braised or stewed dishes, or typically in longer-duration cooking to develop the deep savory flavors from dried mushrooms.

Which do you use more often - fresh or dried shiitake mushrooms ?


It is not easy to find fresh shiitake mushrooms that are locally grown in the US and even if available, they do not come cheap (about $3 for about six to at most eight pieces of fresh shiitake mushrooms).

Fresh Shiitake Mushroom Soup 鲜香菇小白菜汤
Blanch the green vegetables, set aside. Par-boil the fresh rice noodles, set aside.

Add chicken stock + water (1:1 ratio) to a pot and start to boil. For vegetarians, you can use vegetable broth/stock instead. When boiling, add thinly sliced fresh shiitake mushrooms (pre-marinated in cooking wine and soy sauce for 15 mins), simmer the mushrooms in the soup for about 12-15 mins till mushrooms are cooked. Lower the heat, add in blanched vegetables, gojiberries/wolfberries, turn off heat, cover the pot and allow the gojiberries/wolfberries to hydrate under the steam of the cooked soup. Salt and ground white pepper to taste before serving over fresh rice noodles.

Of course, drinking the soup itself without the noodles can be as good!



Sharing this with Souper Sunday

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