Allium free, soy free, delicious Brothy Vegetable Soup
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Brothy Vegetable Soup

Warm up from the inside out this winter with this northern Chinese-inspired soup. Dried shiitake mushrooms give this dish depth of flavor. It's versatile, filling, easy to make and ready to serve in about 30 minutes!  
Prep Time12 mins
Cook Time18 mins
Total Time30 mins
Course: Main Course, Soup
Cuisine: Chinese
Keyword: gluten-free, no garlic, no onions, soy free, vegan
Servings: 4
Calories: 100kcal

Ingredients

  • 4 cups broth (Substitute water and 1/2 tsp salt)
  • 1.5 cups water (hot)
  • 10 dried shiitake mushrooms, rinsed
  • 1.5 cups cabbage, chopped coarsely
  • 1 cup carrots, sliced diagonally (1/2" to 1" pieces)
  • 1 cup celery, sliced diagonally (1/2" to 1" pieces)
  • 1 cup zucchini, sliced in rounds (1/2" pieces)
  • 2-3 tbsp ginger
  • 1.5 tbsp rice vinegar
  • 1.5 tbsp coconut aminos (soy sauce substitute)
  • 1 tbsp toasted sesame oil

Instructions

  • Rinse the dried shiitake mushrooms and soak in 1.5 cups of hot water until soft. This will take about 10 minutes depending on the heat of the water.
  • Bring 4 cups broth to boil in a lidded stock pot. Substitute water with 1/2 tsp salt. 
  • Finely grate or mince the ginger. I use a microplane or zester to do this quickly without getting any stringy/fibrous ginger chunks.
  • Prepare the vegetables. Coarsely chop the cabbage into 1" pieces. Diagonally slice the carrots and celery into pieces (1/2" to 1" pieces). Slice a thin zucchini into 1/2" rounds. If you have a thicker zucchini, simply slice the rounds in half to reduce their size.
  • Strain the shiitake mushrooms. Add the soaking water to the pot. Slice the mushrooms thinly.
  • Once the broth/water mixture comes to a boil, add cabbage*, carrots and mushrooms. Cover and cook at a medium-heat for 2 minutes. 
  • Add zucchini and celery. Lower the temperature, cover and simmer for 2 minutes.
  • Add rice vinegar, toasted sesame oil and coconut aminos. Cover and simmer for 2 minutes more. 
  • Remove from heat. Serve.

Notes

I usually cook 4 oz of  rice noodles separately and serve them together with this brothy soup.  Feel free to use any other type of noodle, rice, starch or protein that you like. 
*If you prefer a crunchier cabbage texture, add it into the broth together with the zucchini and celery, instead of earlier on with the carrots. 
Dry shiitakes are generally soaked for ~20 minutes in hot water to achieve the desired consistency. However, the cooking time associated with this recipe helps cut the soaking time down a bit.

Nutrition

Calories: 100kcal