Asian Vegetable Soup with Dumplings

Quite a few mornings a week, I speak to my friend Risa, while she is driving to work. She told me about this soup recipe and I thought I would give it a try. Of course, I had to change up some of the veggies, and you can too. Feel free to add or subtract whatever you like. The broth is so delicious, it is salty, sour, slightly spicy and oh so tasty. I threw some frozen chicken potstickers in the microwave from the food store (Mine were from Wegmans, but Trader Joe’s has an assortment too), added those to the soup and ta-da- an entire meal. I think this recipe started out as a Weight Watchers 0 point recipe, it is mostly veggies, so if you leave out the dumplings or potstickers, you are good to go.

INGREDIENTS:

2 teaspoons toasted sesame oil
1 Tablespoon grated ginger (I use my microplane)
3 cloves chopped garlic
1 teaspoon Sambal Oelek (ground chili paste found in Asian section in the food store)
2 – 32 oz. boxes unsalted chicken stock
2 Tablespoons low sodium soy sauce
1 Tablespoon fish sauce
8 oz. sliced cremini mushrooms
5 oz. can sliced water chestnuts
1 cup carrots, cut in matchsticks (Wegman’s sells it already like this ;))
1 cup snow peas
1/3 cup chopped scallions
1/3 cup chopped cilantro
1 Tablespoon lime juice

DIRECTIONS:

1. Heat oil in large soup pot, add ginger, garlic and sambal. Cook for 1-2 minutes.
2. Add stock, soy sauce and fish sauce and bring to a boil.
3. Reduce heat to low, stir in mushrooms, water chestnuts and carrots, simmer covered 15 minutes.
4. Add snow peas, cook for another 5 minutes. (Recipe called for 4 heads of bok choy, chopped as well, but I didn’t add that)
5. Stir in scallions, cilantro and lime juice.
6. Serve as is or add rice noodles, dumplings or potstickers. Could also add steamed shrimp or chicken for more protein.
7. ENJOY!

Here are a few pictures of some of these ingredients, in case you have never used them before:

From left to right – veggies (pea pods, carrots, scallions, water chestnuts) Water chestnuts are actually a vegetable, not a nut!
Fresh lime – adds the perfect tartness at the end
Sambal Oelek – ground chili paste, spicy!
Toasted Sesame OIl & Fish Sauce
Fresh Cilantro – optional – some people love it, others hate it, we love it over here

Heat oil in large soup pot, add ginger, garlic and sambal. Cook for 1-2 minutes.

Add stock, soy sauce and fish sauce and bring to a boil.

Reduce heat to low, stir in mushrooms, water chestnuts and carrots, simmer covered 15 minutes.

 
Look at these gorgeous mushrooms – I got a wild mushroom variety pack from Wegmans. So delicious!

Add snow peas, cook for another 5 minutes. (Recipe called for 4 heads of bok choy, chopped as well, but I didn’t add that)

Stir in scallions, cilantro and lime juice.

Serve as is or add rice noodles, dumplings or potstickers. Could also add steamed shrimp or chicken for more protein.

ENJOY!