Vegetable Stock (For Chinese Dishes and Soups)

recipe image

This image courtesy of Joseph DeLeo

Vegetable stocks do not taste like meat stocks. They have their own delicate taste which can vary with the vegetables that you happen to have around in your refrigerator. You could add shelled pea pods, celery, parsnips, zucchini and yellow squash tips, fresh mushroom stems, asparagus bottoms, watercress stems, green peppers, and parsley.

NotesSave the mushrooms for other dishes-you can slice and put them in scrambled eggs, you can put them in soups, you can put them in fried rice, and you can stir-fry them with various greens.

4 cups

CostInexpensive

Easy

Total Timeunder 1 hour

Make Ahead RecipeYes

Dietary Considerationvegetarian

Taste and Texturelight, savory, umami

Type of Dishstock

Ingredients

16 medium-sized dried shiitake (or Chinese black) mushrooms
4 carrots, washed and scrubbed
8 whole scallions
6 outer lettuce leaves
1 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon Chinese thin soy sauce
2 teaspoons sesame oil
¼ teaspoon sugar

Instructions

Rinse the mushrooms quickly in cold water. Wash and scrub the carrots, leaving 4 inches of their tops on, if possible.
Combine the mushrooms, carrots, scallions, lettuce, salt, and 5 cups water in a 4-quart pot and bring to a boil.
Cover, lower heat and simmer for half an hour.
Strain the stock through three layers of cheesecloth.
Discard all the vegetables except the mushrooms.
Boil down the stock to 4 cups.
Add the soy sauce, sesame oil, and sugar. Mix and check seasonings.