Hot and Sour Soup with Savoy Cabbage and Beansprouts
Sometimes, a light but nourishing soup is the only thing that will do, and this one ticks all the boxes without using very many ingredients. The cabbage and beansprouts can be swapped for whatever vegetables you have to hand – just keep the net weight about the same.
Servings: 2 people
Ingredients
- 1 tbsp olive oil
- 4 spring onions trimmed, white and green parts cut into thin rounds and kept separate (70g)
- 1 fresh makrut (aka kaffir) lime leaf
- 1 tbsp tomato paste
- ¼ tsp chilli flakes
- 1 litre vegetable stock
- 2½ tbsp tamarind paste
- 2½ tbsp soy sauce
- 10 g fresh ginger peeled and thinly sliced
- ½ tsp palm sugar
- Salt
- 100 g beansprouts
- 100 g savoy cabbage leaves thinly sliced
- 1 red chilli thinly sliced, pith and seeds discarded if you prefer less heat
Instructions
- Put a medium sauté pan for which you have a lid on a medium-high heat. Once hot, add the olive oil, spring onion whites and lime leaf, sauté for two to three minutes, until softened, then add the tomato paste and cook, stirring, for two minutes more, until the oil turns red; make sure the paste doesn’t go dark, or the soup will turn out bitter.
- Stir in the chilli flakes, stock, tamarind, soy sauce, ginger, palm sugar and an eighth of a teaspoon of salt, cover and bring up to a simmer. Turn down the heat to medium-low and leave to cook for 25 minutes.
- Add the beansprouts to the pot, and cook for another five minutes, just until they have softened.
- Divide the shredded cabbage between four bowls, ladle the hot soup over it and serve topped with the spring onion greens and the sliced red chilli.