If you are looking for a light soup that is full of necessary nutrients, then check out the two delicious vegetarian lotus seed soup recipes at home below. Making lotus seed soup is not difficult at all, and the ingredients are very easy to find. Let’s get cooking with TasteVN right away!
1. Vegetarian Lotus Seed Mushroom Soup
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Preparation
10 minutes
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Cooking
30 minutes
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Difficulty
Easy
Ingredients for Vegetarian Lotus Seed Mushroom Soup Serves 2
Lotus seeds 100 gr Carrot 150 gr Shiitake mushrooms 100 gr Bok choy 100 gr Minced ginger 1 tablespoon Soy sauce 1 tablespoon Vegetarian oyster sauce 1 teaspoon Sugar 1 teaspoon Vegetarian seasoning 1/2 teaspoon Cooking oil 1 tablespoon
How to choose fresh ingredients
How to choose fresh shiitake mushrooms
- For dried shiitake mushrooms, choose those that are intact, not broken, with a bright brown cap and short stems.
- Dried shiitake mushrooms have a natural aroma, no musty smell, and do not have white spots indicating mold.
- For fresh shiitake mushrooms, choose those that are not bruised, with a uniformly opened cap like an umbrella, and short stems.
- Fresh shiitake mushrooms have a very distinctive aroma; the fainter the smell, the older the mushrooms are, indicating they are no longer fresh.
How to choose fresh bok choy
- Choose bok choy with a moderate size, bright green, smooth leaves, not wilted, and without black spots or yellowing.
- Fresh bok choy will have a white-green stem, light green, not bruised or rotten.
- Choose bok choy that has a weight proportional to its size; a large bok choy that is light in weight is old, dehydrated, and wilted.
How to prepare Lotus Seed Mushroom Soup
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Prepare the ingredients
Peel the carrot and cut it into bite-sized pieces. Soak the bok choy in salt water for about 10 minutes, then rinse thoroughly with cold water and cut into pieces.
Clean the shiitake mushrooms with water, soak them in warm water for 5 minutes to remove any dirt stuck to the mushrooms. For the lotus seeds, remove the lotus seed cores and rinse them briefly with water.
Tip: You can cut a cross on the caps of the shiitake mushrooms so that they bloom evenly and beautifully when cooked.
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Stir-fry the ingredients
Heat 1 tablespoon of cooking oil in a pan, add minced ginger, lotus seeds, shiitake mushrooms, and carrots, and stir-fry for 3 minutes. Then season with the following ingredients: 1 tablespoon of soy sauce, 1 teaspoon of vegetarian oyster sauce, 1 teaspoon of sugar, and 1/2 teaspoon of vegetarian seasoning. Stir well for 5 minutes until the ingredients have absorbed the flavors.
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Cook the soup
You add 400ml of filtered water to the pan, cover it, and cook for 10 minutes until the ingredients are fully cooked. You add the bok choy last, cooking for about 5 minutes until the bok choy is cooked, then turn off the stove.
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Final product
Lotus seed and vegetarian mushroom soup is simply completed like that! The soup is light yet contains sufficient essential nutrients for the body, with the creamy lotus seeds combined with the chewy shiitake mushrooms being very delicious.
2. Lotus seed and tofu soup
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Preparation
10 minutes
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Processing
30 minutes
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Difficulty level
Easy
Ingredients for Lotus Seed Tofu Soup For 2 people
Lotus seeds 200 gr Carrot 1 piece Cassava 1 piece Tofu 2 pieces Straw mushrooms 100 gr Cilantro A little Coconut water 500 ml Vegetarian seasoning 3 tablespoons Cooking oil 4 tablespoons Common spices A little (salt/ sugar/ monosodium glutamate)
How to Select Fresh Ingredients
How to choose good tofu with less gypsum
- Select tofu pieces that have an off-white color like that of soybeans; do not choose those that are too white or yellowish as they may contain a lot of gypsum or be old tofu.
- Smell the tofu; good and pure tofu will have a rich soy flavor, while tofu containing impurities will have a hint of lime smell, and be porous and bland.
- Good tofu will have a certain elasticity and crumble easily, and the surface of the tofu piece will be soft and smooth, not dry or hard.
How to choose fresh cassava
- Choose cassava roots that are medium and small in size; the larger the cassava, the harder it will be.
- Observe the exterior of the cassava; good cassava will have a bright brown color and no rough spots on the skin.
- Fresh cassava will have a weight that is appropriate for its size; if the root is large but light in weight, it indicates that it has lost water and is dried out.
How to make Lotus Seed Tofu Soup
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Prepare the ingredients
Remove the lotus seed core, soak in boiling water for about 5 minutes to soften the seeds. Clean the mushrooms, cut them in half if they are large. Peel and dice the carrot and cassava along with the tofu.
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Fry the tofu
Heat 4 tablespoons of cooking oil in a pan, add the tofu and fry until all sides are firm, do not fry until too golden.
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Cooking soup
You add 500ml of coconut water and 500ml of plain water into the pot, bring to a gentle boil. Then you add the cassava and carrot, cooking for 20 minutes until the carrot and cassava are cooked. Next, you add the straw mushrooms, cooking for another 5 minutes until the mushrooms are done.
You season the soup with a mixture of spices including: 3 tablespoons of vegetarian seasoning, 1 teaspoon of sugar, 1 teaspoon of monosodium glutamate, 1 teaspoon of salt. Stir well to dissolve the spices.
Add the lotus seeds and fried tofu into the soup pot, cooking for another 3 minutes until the soup comes to a boil, then turn off the stove.
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Final product
The lotus seed tofu soup is ready! You can add a little cilantro to make the soup more fragrant; the hot soup is perfect for chilly days, and it’s very reasonable to eat for relieving colds.
How to choose fresh and delicious lotus seeds
- If buying fresh lotus seeds, it is best to buy seeds still on the stalk, freshly picked, with fresh green stalks.
- Choose mature lotus seeds with a taut, round outer shell, either off-white or deep yellow. Mature seeds will be more fragrant and nutty when cooked.
- If purchasing dried lotus seeds, choose seeds that are opaque white, small and uniform in size, without lotus seed hearts.
How to choose delicious fresh carrots
- Choose carrots that have bright colors, smooth skin, and small natural grooves on the root, as well as a little bit of small roots attached.
- It is advisable to select carrots that are of moderate size, feel firm in hand, and not soft; larger carrots may have more fibrous texture and larger core, which makes them less tasty.
- Avoid purchasing carrots that have overly deep orange color and shiny skin, as these may be carrots that have been sprayed with chemicals.
Above are 2 ways to cook vegetarian lotus seed soup which is delicious and light for the full moon days or chilly days. TasteVN wishes you success in completing this dish and don’t forget to share if you like these recipes.
