When I go to Asian restaurants, I always wish I could make their foods. Well, here is one that can be easily made!
Spring is here! In the Midwest, one of the first edible foods in nature is Burdock root. A great way to include burdock in your diet is to make a soup with the roots. Asian cooks rave about their burdock soups that they make in the spring. I’m presenting a burdock root soup here that is inspired by Rosalee de la Foret’s blog. Well, here is one dish that can be easily made! There is really nothing exotic about this soup, all the ingredients can be found here in the US.
The website to the original recipe: https://learningherbs.com/remedies-recipes/hot-and-sour-soup-recipe/
As we transition from the winter into spring, it is important to pay attention to our digestion. Heavy foods in the winter might be clogging our livers that can lead to some dreaded health problems in the spring like fevers and tiredness. We tend to eat heavier foods during the winter months but now as our livers are waking up, our body is ready to embark on something lighter and easier to digest. The spring season is the time to attend to the liver and the gallbladder. Our body tends to cleanse itself naturally as we eat less. In addition, it is nice to add some bitter plants that aid the liver to accomplish this process. Our ancestors ate a lot of bitters in the spring. One of these spring bitters is burdock.
Burdock is a lovely plant. It has a distinct flavor. It is earthy, slightly sweet, and bitter. The bitter flavor is lacking in our diet today and is what our liver needs at this time. It cools and clears the stagnation that was caused by the heavier winter foods. Oh and one more … it is also aphrodisiac! So yes! … you can make it for your date dinner, too!
This soup works great in the spring. The burdock’s earthy, heavier flavor pairs nicely with the carrot’s sweet and light flavor. In addition to bitter flavor, the liver also needs the sour flavor that it gets from this sour dish as well. This soup is a big favorite in our family, yes even the kids like it. Perhaps it is because of its interesting, well balanced flavors. In fact, it has all five flavors: sweet, salty, bitter, sour, and pungent!
Ingredients
- 1 qt (or more to well cover the vegetables) of home-made stock (vegetable or pork, beef, chicken, fish). For the meat stock recipe, please refer to my Stuffed Cabbage recipe.
- 1 cup of shredded burdock root (peeled and shredded through the largest holes of your grader) – if you don’t have it in your backyard, it is available at farmers’ markets, co-ops or also from Harmony Valley in Veroqua, WI.
- 2 cup of shredded carrot (peeled and shredded)
- 2 clove of garlic
- 1 Tbsp of minced ginger
- 2 handfuls of mushrooms (like morelle, shitake)
- 3 Tbsp cornstarch mixed with 4 Tbsp of water
- 4 Tbsp of rice or white vinegar
- 2 lightly beaten egg yolks
- 1 Tbsp sesame oil
- scallions
- soy sauce
- hard boiled eggs
- hot red pepper or sriracha sauce (optional)
Recipe
- Bring stock to a boil.
- Add carrots, Burdock roots, mushrooms, the crushed garlic and ginger. After it boils, turn it down to low medium heat for about 5 minutes.
- Add vinegar and the cornstarch mixture. Keep stirring it becomes thick for about 2-3 minutes.
- Turn off the heat and stir egg yolk in gently. Add salt and hot red pepper (optional).
- Serve in a deep bowl. Garnish with scallions and add soy sauce to taste.
- You can add hard boiled eggs too. Bring some water in a pot to a boil and add the eggs at room temperature. Boil them for 7 and a half minutes. Take them out and put them into cold water. Peel and serv. If the eggs are cold, straight out of the fridge then the cooking time is 8 minutes.
Enjoy!
Sources:
- Paul Pitchford. Healing Whole Foods.
- http://www.Learningherbs.com (Rosalee’ website). https://learningherbs.com/remedies-recipes/hot-and-sour-soup-recipe/
Twin Cities Herbs 