My quickest Chinese Vegetable Soup - low calorie miracle!

5 from 22 votes

My quickest Chinese Vegetable Soup - low calorie miracle!

Recipe video above. My quickest Chinese Vegetable Soup. Quick and easy, versatile, extremely low 108 calories yet still downright delicious. If only all healthy food was this tasty!

Pile in as much veg as you want! It cooks down so you can really go wild. (PS If you need carbs though - I get it - here's the Noodle Soup version here and the Rice Soup version here!)

**Slide the Servings scaler to scale up**

Prep Time5

Cook Time10

Total Time15

Course: Soup

Cuisine: Asian, Chinese

Keyword: asian soup, asian soup broth, chinese soup

Servings:

Calories: 108cal

Author: Nagi | RecipeTin Eats

Ingredients

Infused Asian Broth

1 litre / 4 cups chicken stock/broth, low sodium (Note 1)
2 garlic cloves , peeled and halved
1.5 cm / 1/2" ginger piece, cut into 5 thin slices (optional, but highly recommended)
1 star anise , optional
1 1/2 tbsp light soy sauce , or all purpose soy sauce (Note 2)
2 tsp sugar (any)
1 1/2 tbsp chinese cooking wine (Note 3)
1/2 tsp sesame oil , toasted (optional) (Note 5)

Vegetables (be generous!) - or other veg Note 6

4 - 6 stems Chinese broccoli or bok choy, stems and leaves sliced and separated (Note 7 for how to chop)
1 small carrot , peeled, cut in half lengthways then finely sliced on the diagonal
75g / 2.5 oz enoki mushrooms ("faux" noodles!), or other mushrooms sliced or quartered (Note 8)

Toppings

1/2 cup coriander/cilantro sprigs/leaves , lightly packed (or Thai basil, mint, chives)
1 green onion , green part only finely sliced
2 tbsp crispy fried shallots (store bought, staple in my pantry!)
Chilli crisp, chilli sauce or sriracha , optional
Other ideas: sesame seeds, sliced chilli, Thai basil

Cups - Metric

Instructions

Infused broth - Place Broth ingredients in a large saucepan over high heat. Place lid on, bring to a simmer then reduce to the lowest heat and simmer gently for 10 minutes to allow the flavours to infuse. (Meanwhile, chop the veg)
Cook vegetables - Turn the heat up to high and bring the liquid back to a rapid simmer. Add the carrots, Chinese broccoli stems and enoki mushrooms. Cook 3 minutes. Add Chinese broccoli leaves, push in a simmer for 2 minutes until wilted.
Serve - Pick the garlic and ginger out of soup. Divide between 2 bowls. Top with a mound of coriander, sprinkle with green onions, shower with crispy shallots, and a good dollop of chilli sauce or chilli crisp. Dig in, feel good!

Notes

1. Chicken stock/broth - just store bought chicken broth is fine here, but get a good quality one (Campbells in Australia is my favourite brand). Don't use chicken stock powder with hot water for this recipe - the flavour is too chickeny.

2. Soy sauce - Don't use dark soy sauce or sweet soy, they are too intense for this soup. See here for information about different types of soy sauces.

3. Chinese cooking wine is a key ingredient to transform store bought chicken broth into a restaurant-quality soup broth. Dry Sherry is an excellent substitute. Otherwise, Japanese cooking sake or mirin are adequate substitutes (if you use Mirin, skip sugar).

If you cannot use alcohol, I think the best sub is as follows:

Reduce soy sauce to 1 tbsp
Add 1 tbsp Oyster Sauce (this has umami and will add complexity into the broth flavour to compensate for leaving out cooking wine).

4. Extra broth flavouring options: chilli, green onion (just fold them) or onion quarters.

5. Sesame oil - use toasted (brown colour, more intense sesame flavour), not untoasted (yellow, not common in Australia).

6. Other vegetables - Any cookable vegetables will work great here! Zucchini, cabbage, other mushrooms, sweet potato, green beans, broccoli eggplant, bean sprouts. See in post for an extensive list and how to chop.

7. Chinese broccoli cutting (video is helpful) - Cut thinner stems into 2cm/0.5" pieces, thicker stems (~1.5cm / 0.5"+) into 1cm / 1/3" thick slices and mega thick stems (2cm+) into thin coins.

Cut leaves into 2 cm / 0.8" thick slices. Separate stem from leafy part (added to pot at different times).

8. Enoki mushrooms - The long thin "noodle" shaped mushrooms that I use extensively in soups when I'm aiming for low-carb, because I treat them like healthy faux noodles! Sold at large grocery stores these days though much, much cheaper at Asian stores. Use leftovers in stir fries and Asian soups (like Chinese Chicken & Corn, Hot & Sour Soup)

Nutrition is per serving, assuming 1 tsp sesame oil used, excludes toppings. 1 tbsp crispy fried shallots = 20 calories.

Nutrition