Southeast Asia Mushroom Soup

After my recent visit to Bali I often find myself missing the taste of Southeast Asia. Especially their fresh, light, tangy, chilli soup. So today I am making this soup to ease my crave. In terms of mushroom, you can use any type of mushroom you like. I have dried Shiitake Mushroom and dried Black Fungus/Mushroom at home so I decided to rehydrate both and used it in my soup. Black fungus may not sound appetizing but it is pack with goodness. It improves circulation, lower cholesterol, help in treating dryness for example dry throat, dry cough and anti viral and it is tasteless on its own.

Ingredients:

• 1 tsp vegetable oil
• 2 spring onion (white bit), finely chopped
• 4 gloves garlic, minced
• 1 shallot or half small brown onion, finely chop
• 5 dried Shiitake mushroom, rehydrate, squeeze out liquid and sliced
• a handful of black fungus, rehydrate, squeeze out liquid and cut into 2
• 1 - 2 red chilli, seeds removed and finely chopped
• 1 litre vegetable stock, I used homemade vegie stock
• Juice of 1 lime (depending on your taste)
• 5 kaffir lime leaves, stem removed
• 1 carrot, cubed
• a handful of green beans, cut to about 2 cm length
• salt and pepper to taste
• Fried shallots - to garnish (How to make your own Crispy Fried Shallot - Click Here)

Method:

1.  Heat oil in a saucepan that can hold 1 litre or more liquid.
2. Saute spring onion, garlic and shallot until aromatic and lightly brown. About 5 minutes.
3. Add chilli and stir well. Add in sliced mushroom and black fungus cook for further 3 minutes.
4. Pour in the stock, lime juice and Kaffir lime leaves and bring to boil. 
5. Once boil add in carrot and bean and season to taste.
6. The soup is ready to be serve when the vegetables are tender. 
7. Garnish with deep fried shallots.
8. Serve with warm steam rice and sweet soy sauce. YUM!

The Spice Of Life

It's going to be max 38 degree today. Part of me wants to go out and enjoy the Sun before the arrival of Autumn but another side of me telling myself to stay home and do what ever I need to do. For instance updating this blog. So. here I am. I have been meaning to share the benefits of spices that I often used to enhance the flavour of the food I cooked but due to time constraint the plan has to be postponed.

Spices that I am going to talk about may seen ordinary but they have amazing health benefits. Spice can come in buds such as cloves, bark (cinnamon), roots (ginger), berries (peppercorns), aromatic seeds (cumin) and even stigma of flower (saffron).





1. Chilli Peppers can range from  mild to fiery. For this spice, the hotter the better when it comes to its anti-oxidant properties. Chilli is thought to help prevent and treat diabetes and cardiovascular disease. Capsaicin and dihydrocapsaicin have the potential to lower glucose and insulin level and reduce the formation of fatty plaques on the artery walls and prevent blood clots. 15g a day of chilli peppers will be able to improve your sleep which will benefit your cardiovascular system.

2. Ginger: 1g ginger powder per day keeps the nausea away.Ginger may alleviate symptoms of nausea such as morning sickness from pregnancy, surgery or chemotherapy or even motion sickness. It's anti-nausea effects of ginger or ginger tea that are probably the best recognised. Ginger also inhibits inflammation. Patients with arthritic knee pain found relief from ginger extract.

3. Black Pepper: Natural chemical piperine in black pepper is the component that is responsible for possible health benefits. There is suggestive evidence that black pepper can improve digestion, help the nervous system increase energy expenditure.









4. Cinnamon give us warm and fuzzy feeling.  Cinnamon contains health-promoting anti oxidants such as cinnamaldehyde which could help blood flow. The most promising benefit of this spice is that it is able to lower the blood sugar levels.

5. Turmeric usually sold as dry powder. it adds much more colour and flavour to your curries. Abundant in vitamins and minerals, it is the phytochemical curcumin that offers anti-oxidant properties and anti inflammatory. The phenolic compounds in turmeric has shown to reduce the risk of cancer.

6. Cloves are packed with wonderful compound. In fact, cloves have the highest anti-oxidant activity compared with other herbs and spices. Eugenol, the primary component of clove's oil functions as an anti-inflammatory substance. Studies shows that it is able reduce inflammatory symptoms by 15-30 percent. Cloves can be used in both sweet and savoury recipes.