I’ve always enjoyed Asain soups – miso being one of my favorites. I still remember the first Vietnamese soup I tasted – so fresh and light, full of delicate flavors. Then I tried Thai soups, and loved them even more. I was at the grocery store a while back and happened upon Lemongrass in the fresh herb section – not something easy to find in the midwest, so I bought some on the fly, and then determined to find a tasty recipe to use it in. This is what came of it!
This is an adaptation of two recipes found here and here, and pure imitation of my favorite salad from a little place called Fresh Side in Amherst, MA, and the peanut sauce taken from here. Both of these recipe’s are easy to make and go well together – we happen to have most of these ingredients on hand regularly, but even so, it’s fairly cheap for all the yummy vegetables you get!
Here’s what you need for the soup and salad:
- One 2-inch piece of fresh ginger
- 2 cloves garlic
- 1 stalk lemongrass (ours was chopped into 4-inch long pieces – I think there were 4 total)
- One large can of chicken broth/stock
- 2 cups water
- 1 t lime juice
- 2 T soy sauce
- 2-3 T fish sauce
- 5 carrots
- one bunch cilantro
- 2 heads of bok choy
- handful of shitake mushrooms or asian style canned mushrooms (we used dried shittake)
- 2 large ripe roma tomatoes
- 1 1/2 c frozen pre-cooked shrimp, rinsed, tails pulled off
- fresh basil leaves
- 1 lime
- 1 bunch green onions/scallions
For peanut sauce:
- 1/4 c creamy peanut butter
- 3 T soy sauce
- 2 1/2 T vinegar (we use rice wine vinegar since this is “the asian way” – you can use red wine vinegar or white wine vinegar and be fine)
- 2 T sugar
- 3 T water
- 1/2-3/4 T dry mustard powder (add more for a spicier version)
Here’s what you do:
First, peel the skin off the ginger with a vegetable peeler and then slice the ginger into round disks (this is important because of how fibrous the ginger is – you have to do disks first). Peel the skin off the garlic, and slice into disks.
Next, mince the garlic and ginger as small as you can get it.
Next you have two options with the lemongrass – it depends on how picky you are. You can either chop it into 1-inch size peices, which makes it easier to fish out of your soup (you don’t usually eat lemongrass) or you can put it in a food processer and have it chop it into tiny little pieces. Lemongrass is pretty hard to cut – so you won’t be able to mince it with even the best of knives. Your choice on what you do – I just sliced mine into smaller peices because it was quicker, and less dishes to do later 
Here’s where the magic starts happening. Throw the ginger, garlic and lemongrass into a big pot.
Here’s this lovely heavy pot that was a wedding present to Jerod’s parents – it’s way old school, but the thing is AWESOME. Just thought I’d share. It’s perfect for this soup.
Now, pour in the huge can of chicken stock…
Pour in the 2 C water, and throw in the lime juice as well. Turn the heat on to medium high.
Peel the carrots, and slice into disks.
Throw the carrots in the pot, and turn the heat up a little higher – eventually, it should be at a low boil. Once it get’s there, turn the heat back down to medium low.
Next, grab the fish sauce and soy sauce. The Thai Kitchen brand has a version of fish sauce sold in most major grocery stores. Ours is from an international food store and was a bit more bang for the buck (we cook a lot of asian foods…) Add 2 T of each, feel free to up the fish sauce later if it needs a little extra salt.
Grab the cilantro, and chop that stuff up too. Throw it in the pot. (On a side note: For some reason, the folks at the grocery store here in Grinnell have a serious herb-confusion and can’t tell cilantro and parsley apart. Come on people, it’s not that hard.)
Next comes the fun part! This is bok choy, the most important part of the whole meal! Look for one that has nice big leaves – this will be for the salad, and good white parts – that’s for the soup.
Pull the leaves off, and rinse off any dirt.
Chop the white part into smaller chunks, and the leafy part into long strips (5 inches long or so). Thow the white parts into the soup pot, and the leafy parts into a salad bowl. Feel free to mix it up a bit – we put some leafy stuff in the soup and white stuff in the salad for variety. Whatever floats your boat.
Next, add the mushrooms – cover the pot, and let the soup simmer while you get to work on the salad. (Mine are in a bowl because we had to soak them first to reconstitute the dried shitake mushrooms)
Let’s get going on the salad – this is seriously scrumptious, and very easy. Grab the scallions/green onions – wash them and peel off any wet filmy layers. Chop on a diagonal – white parts should be smaller, green parts can be larger.
Warning – I like green onions. So I put lots in. DH doesn’t like them quite as much as I do – luckily, they are easy to pick around
Throw the onions in the salad bowl that contains the cabbage leaves (bok choy is a cabbage…I didn’t know that until recently!
PS – I have no idea why this photo looks fuzzy and weird…
Oh, and chop up the rest of the cilantro too, and add that to the salad. I like lots of cilantro!
Take the remaining carrots (I think I used two), peel ‘em and matchstick them. Or, you could use a mandoline if you’re fancy like that. OR you could buy the ones at the grocery store that are already matchsticked into tiny slices for salads. Your call.
Doesn’t that look so delicious? I want to eat it again. Wait, I already had some for lunch today…
Next, we’re going to make the peanut sauce/salad dressing. This is super easy and simple, plus if you have some left over, you can use it for a stir fry, it’s very tasty!
First, measure a 1/4 c creamy peanut butter and put it in a regular ‘ol cereal bowl. Just a tip – if you spray your measuring cup with cooking spray, you’ll have any easier time getting the PB out. This also works with honey. I give DH full credit for introducing me to this handy trick.
Next, measure out the remaining ingredients for the peanut sauce and add it all to the bowl (3 T soy sauce,2 1/2 T vinegar,2 T sugar,3 T water,1/2-3/4 T dry mustard powder)
Whisk it all together – mmm, yummy! (Yes, that’s a mini-whisk. I have no idea where DH got it, but we use it a ton)
Now, turn back to the soup for just a second – you’ve got three more things you need to do. First, if you haven’t de-tailed and rinsed the shrimp, do that now. (I was a dummy and bought un-cooked shrimp. Yeah, don’t do that. Not worth it).
PS – If you want to go vegetarian, use firm tofu – add it at the very end. Though personally, I think shrimp is better. But I’m biased – I love shrimp!
Next, grab your tomato and cut out the little core at the top (sorta like when you carve a pumpkin and cut a whole around the stem). Then, slice the tomato in half and squeeze out the juice and seeds, scoop out anything left over. Then, slice the tomato into 1/2 inch chunks.
Now – add the shrimp and the tomato to the soup last, cover and make sure the heat is on low – cook until the shrimp is cooked through and the tomatoes are a little soft. Make sure you don’t over-cook the shrimp. Taste the soup – if it’s too salty, add a bit of lime juice. If it’s too sweet, add a dash of fish sauce.
You’re ready to eat!!! Ladle soup into large bowls, serve with fresh torn basil (don’t skip this step – it’s completely worth it!) For extra fun, float a slice of lime in it. For a little extra spicy kick, we put some good ‘ol Cock Sauce in the soup. You can also put fresh chile’s into the soup to add a little pizazz.
Drizzle the peanut sauce over the salad, add some chopped peanuts if you want, and enjoy!
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