For those days when you’re being time efficient…

The best thing about one-pot dinners is that it’s literally in one pot.  Cooked, served, cleaned!

Tonight’s dinner was DELICIOUS!  The meatballs were a nice added protein to the soup, topped with a silky tofu that everyone loved.  The green bean vermicelli functions as noodles, and there are plenty of green vegetables with the bean sprouts, napa cabbage, and broccoli.  So yummy!  We had enough for leftovers

Ingredients

• 1/4 cup of dried shrimp
• 3 slices of fresh ginger
• 1 pound of fresh ground pork
• 1 bunch of fresh enoki mushrooms, diced
• 1 teaspoon of sesame oil
• 2 teaspoons of soy sauce
• 1/2 teaspoon of white pepper
• 1/2 teaspoon of garlic salt
• 1 egg
• 1 whole large napa cabbage, sliced
• 1 head crown broccoli
• 2 bundles of dried green bean vermicelli
• 1 bunch of fresh bean sprouts
• 1 pack of fresh soft silken tofu 
• 10 cups of water
• 1 tablespoon of miso paste
• 1 teaspoon of butter
• green onions for garnish

Cooking Instructions

1. In a bowl, take out your dried green bean vermicelli and add in cold water, ensuring it’s completely covered and let it soak (to soften) – this step is optional and will just allow the vermicelli to cook faster.
2. In your soup pot, add a bit of oil and pan fry the dried shrimp and fresh ginger slices on medium heat until fragrant and slightly golden brown
3. Add in your 10 cups of soup water, cover, turn on to high heat and let that come to a boil
4. In a separate bowl, mix in the ground pork, finely chopped enoki mushrooms, garlic salt, soy sauce, sesame oil, white pepper, and egg until fully combined.  Then roll out into 1.5 inch in diameter meatballs (or whatever size works for your family – huge meatballs are also fun, while baby ones are great for smaller kids).
5. Once the soup water boils, drop in your meatballs gently into the boiling water and then cover and let that come to a boil again on high heat.
6. Once the soup water is boiling, add in all the vegetables, stacking them gently into the water.
7. You can also add in your vermicelli at this time, ensuring they are completely submerged into the soup water.
8. Cover and allow that to boil on medium heat for 5 minutes.
9. Gently layer on top the silken tofu.  This can actually rest on top of the vegetables and not be fully submerged.  When you cover it, it will be like steaming the tofu, so it will be cooked anyways.  Cover and boil for another 5 minutes.
10. At this point, I will drop in my miso paste and butter and cover again for another 2 minutes on boiling.  This will allow the butter to melt and some of the miso to dissolve, but you can also swish it around before covering.
11. Garnish with fresh green onions
12. Serve and enjoy!

Tips for making this soup:

• For a more neutral soup, use neutral vegetables (both in nature and in taste) such as leafy greens like napa cabbage, cabbage, broccoli, gai lan, choy sum
• Vegetables such as watercress are more cooling and spinach as a particular unique taste that may throw off the soup
• Add in a few Chinese herbs of choice that are slightly more warm (such as dried red dates, dried longans, even 1 piece of dong quai would be amazing!)
• Chop your root vegetables thin like the potatoes and white radish.  It makes it easier to cook and eat.  This is literally a quick boil soup!  So you want your ingredients to cook quickly and thoroughly.
• Get creative with the vegetable base!
• Vermicelli and vegetables go last.  They cook really fast!

For videos, visit us on YouTube. 

• The ultimate Parent’s Guide to Making Chinese soups for children – learn TCM concepts, which informs soup design, and base recipes, along with an ingredient tracker.