Chinese-style Vegetable Soup

Chinese-style Vegetable Soup (with steamed dumplings):
With many clear or brothy Chinese-style soups, the ingredients actually cook in the hot-broth. In a soup such as this, the quality of your ingredients will directly impact the flavor and look of your soup. I used some low-sodium Swanson’s chicken broth as the base of the soup but feel free to use any good-quality stock, either home made or store bought, that you like. I also used the whites from the pak choi greens that I used in the Pork Dumpling Filling.

Ingredients:

4 cups chicken stock
2” piece of ginger, peeled and grated
2 cloves garlic, minced
2 carrots, small dice
1 bunch pak choi, whites only, thickly sliced (about 1 1/2 cups, or any other Asian cabbage)
1 ½ cups shiitake mushrooms, trimmed and sliced into ¼-1/2” inch pieces
3 Tbsp tamari soy sauce
1 tsp rice wine vinegar
1 tsp sesame oil
1 scallion (reserved for garnish)

Instructions:
1. Pour chicken stock into a large pot, add ginger, garlic, and carrots and bring up to a boil. Reduce heat to a simmer and add shiitakes and soy sauce. Allow the soup to simmer for about 10 minutes, then add the pak choi, rice wine vinegar and sesame oil. Cook until pak choi becomes tender, maybe 5 minutes. Adjust seasonings, including rice wine vinegar and sesame oil to taste. (Be careful, both pack a wallop of flavor!)

2. Arrange 3 steamed dumplings in a soup bowl. Remove the soup from heat, stir in scallions and pour over steamed dumplings.

3. For a nice touch of heat and flavor, add a touch of Siracha hot sauce to your bowl. Enjoy.