vegetable-stock-for-chinese-dishes-and-soups

Vegetable Stock (For Chinese Dishes and Soups)

Vegetable Stock (For Chinese Dishes and Soups)
Print Share with a friend Add to My Favorites Fb_iconShare on FacebookTweet This
Info
  • Total Time: Under 1 Hour
  • Skill Level: Easy
  • Cost: Inexpensive
  • Favorited: 6 Times

Can be made ahead of time.

Chef
madhur-jaffrey
Madhur Jaffrey
View Profile
Cookbook
madhur-jaffreys-world-of-the-east-vegetarian-cookbook
Published by Knopf
Purchase

Photo by: Joseph De Leo

Vegetable stocks do not taste like meat stocks. They have their own delicate taste which can vary with the vegetables that you happen to have around in your refrigerator. You could add shelled pea pods, celery, parsnips, zucchini and yellow squash tips, fresh mushroom stems, asparagus bottoms, watercress stems, green peppers, and parsley.
Yield: 4 cups

Ingredients

  • 16 medium-sized dried shiitake (or Chinese black) mushrooms
  • 4 carrots, washed and scrubbed
  • 8 whole scallions
  • 6 outer lettuce leaves
  • 1 teaspoon salt
  • 1 teaspoon Chinese thin soy sauce
  • 2 teaspoons sesame oil
  • ¼ teaspoon sugar

Directions

Rinse the mushrooms quickly in cold water. Wash and scrub the carrots, leaving 4 inches of their tops on, if possible.

Combine the mushrooms, carrots, scallions, lettuce, salt, and 5 cups water in a 4-quart pot and bring to a boil.

Cover, lower heat and simmer for half an hour.

Strain the stock through three layers of cheesecloth.

Discard all the vegetables except the mushrooms.

Boil down the stock to 4 cups.

Add the soy sauce, sesame oil, and sugar. Mix and check seasonings.

Notes

Save the mushrooms for other dishes-you can slice and put them in scrambled eggs, you can put them in soups, you can put them in fried rice, and you can stir-fry them with various greens.


© 1981 Madhur Jaffrey