Sweet and Sour Soup

There's nothing quite like a hot bowl of sweet and sour soup - it's one of those dishes that seem to enliven taste buds I forgot I had. Craving such an experience this morning I whipped up what soon proved to be a perfect bowl of soup. 

This recipe is packed with protein and nutrients. The tofu and the seaweed provide lots of easily absorbable, complete proteins - one bowl will give you about 1/3 the daily recommended intake. Nori is also the most nutritious of all the seaweeds, and is packed with vitamins and minerals (more so than the same amount of any vegetable!), especially A, B, C, calcium, and precious trace minerals. Cabbage is also a nutritional powerhouse, with tons of great stuff including massive amounts of vit. K and C and a fair amount of those elusive omega 3 fatty acids. 

2 C vegetable broth or water

1t tamari 

2 slices ginger (about half a centimetre wide)

1/4 C Japanese rice

1/2 C shredded cabbage (red or green)

1/2 C cubed medium tofu (silken tofu would also be great in this soup)

1 sheet nori, cut into strips (use scissors, and make the strips about 1 by 4 centimetres)

1/4 t cayenne pepper

1 t corn starch mixed with 1T water

2 T maple syrup

1 T rice vinegar

juice from 1/4 of a lemon 

garnish: seaweed and sesame seeds

I keep a tin of vegetable bouillon powder around for times like these, and added 2t of it to the water to make an instant broth. If you don't have any, and are in too much of a rush to make a broth from scratch, water will work fine. Put the broth on high heat, and add above ingredients down to and including the cayenne. Bring the soup to a boil, then turn it down to low heat and let it simmer. Cover, and stir from time to time for 15 mins. 

At this point add a touch more water if it looks more like vegetables than soup, but if it was covered during cooking this shouldn't be necessary. Add the cornstarch/water mixture and allow it to simmer for 3-4 more mins while stirring. 

Take it off the heat and add the remaining ingredients. If you've used red cabbage the soup will be a beautiful deep purple; with green cabbage it will be a nice light brown. Remove ginger pieces and garnish with seaweed and sesame seeds.

Makes 2 bowls of soup, which I thought would be a meal for one, but I was amazed to discover how filling it is - one bowl and I was stuffed!