I’ve put this in the “Thai Tastes” theme, but I know it’s a little more “Pan-Asian” than a specific country. However, during this Thai Tastes month, I have been reading up on Thai cuisine, and have discovered many Thai Chefs and cooks borrow ideas from other asain countries. I’ve always been a fan of ‘modern fusion’, I’ve noticed this is the way many Australian restaurants are going with their cuisine these days. To keep it “Thai” I’ve made sure I’ve kept a balance between the sweet, salty, sour and heat.
I purchased a selection of mushrooms from the Kelvin Grove Markets on Saturday morning, 4 varieties in a little pack. The woodear Fungus is really quite crunchy and strong flavoured, the shitake mushrooms have an earthiness to them. Oyster Mushrooms are a little sweeter, and Enoki mushrooms are fun and stringy. Put all into the one dish, it’s a flavour and texture sensation!
I served this soup with little Mushroom and Wombok Potsticker Dumplings. You can either have them to the side as an entree, or plop them in the soup.
Ingredients
Broth
2 cups Chicken Stock
2 cups Water
Pepper
Small amount of chili
1 garlic clove, roughly chopped
2tsp Golden Syrup
1/2tsp Fish Sauce
1tbsp Malt Vinegar
Method
Simmer all ingredients together while you prepare the other ingredients
Soup ingredients
1 large Chicken Thigh
extra chicken stock and water, chili and ginger for poaching the chicken
3 Asparagus Spears, Cut in half lengthways
1 or 2 leaves of Wombok cabbage ribs, cut in 5cm strips
Handful Snow peas, julienned
1 Woodear fungus, cut into strips
1 clump Enoki Mushroom, stump removed, broken into smaller clumps
3 Shitake Mushroom, sliced thinly
5 Oyster mushroom, ripped in two
2 Bok Choy plants, Steamed (pop a steaming basket over the broth while it bubbles)
1 Green Shallot, Finely sliced
Method
1. Bring the chicken stock and flavours to a slow boil, cut in the Chicken Thigh into strips and drop into the simmering poaching liquid. Simmer until just cooked through. (check by taking a piece out and cutting it. No pink in the middle)
2. Arrange the vegetables, mushrooms and chicken in a bowl and pour over the broth.
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