It only felt natural to kick off my Lunar New Year menu for two with the dish we would always have at the beginning of the meal… soup! It’s not as exciting as a platter of perfectly pleated dumplings or a heaping bowl of noodles, but it’s an important part of of any family meal, especially for the new year.

Dinner, both the weeknight variety and big feasts, always started with soup. It’s meant to warm up the belly and aid in digestions, super helpful when you know you’re about to have a big dinner. We knew dinner was ready if we heard my mom yell “yum tong!” (tong means soup and “yum tong” means drink your soup!) and everyone would scurry into the kitchen, grab a bowl, and help themselves to some steamy broth. It’s a rule that you can’t move onto the main course until you’ve finished your soup. That rule always bothered me as a kid because I was (and still am) a very slow drinker and I would get really impatient, longing to make my way to rice and chicken wings.

The soup was always changing. Some popular versions my mom makes are tomato egg drop soup, chicken and corn soup, white fungus soup (Reub’s favorite), wintermelon soup with pork, and boy choy and tofu soup. They all start off essentially the same and have somewhat of a similar base flavor profile, but the unique ingredients take them in their own directions.

a simple and flavorful vegetable and tofu soup

To be honest, I forgot about this practice of preparing soup for the beginning of the meal because I had been away for so long. When we were home over the holidays we had so much soup and I really enjoyed it. So I’m making it a priority to reinstate tong back into my life. Since it’s just the two of us, a batch of soup can last us a whole week since it acts more as an accompaniment to a meal rather than the main course. It’s a wonderful way to use up any leftover vegetables we have in the freezer… I mean, they are always there, staring back at me at the end of the week.

This Kohlrabi and Tofu soup is inspired by a soup my mom made for us last month. We share a love of kohlrabi, which is similar to a turnip. The have a wonderful light vegetal flavor with a little sweetness. They taste just like a really good broccoli stem, if you’re a fan of broccoli stems (best part of the broccoli in my opinion). I love to eat them raw as a snack or sliced up in a salad or slaw. But they are also incredible roasted and of course in soup! The kohlrabi adds a really delightful sweetness to the broth and the texture holds up really well… no mush!

I kept this broth mostly vegetarian (if you don’t count the oyster sauce and chicken bouillon). I built upon the flavor of the kohlrabi with carrots a great golden color, dried shiitakes for an earthy umami note, kombu or dried kelp for more umami and brininess, and smashed garlic because garlic makes everything taste better. Salt and pepper balances everything out and bouillon pumps up the flavor a little. My mom adds chicken bouillon to almost all her soups so it only felt right to add some here. You can use vegetable bouillon if you want!

Some cubed tofu rounds out the soup and makes it feel a little more hearty and complete. I used firm tofu but medium or even silken tofu would be an amazing addition!

how to make the soup your own

One of the magical things about soup is that it’s one of the most intuitive things you can cook. You can treat this recipe as a roadmap for making a flavorful vegetable soup and add or swap out ingredients to make it your own.

some highly recommended swaps:

bok choy
wintermelon
sweet potatoes
squash (like kabocha or butternut)
pea shots
kale
ginger
lemongrass

Add it to the pot and let it simmer away, adjusting as you see fit!

You can also change out the protein! If you wanted to keep it vegetarian, I recommend exploring some other tofu options like bean curd or tofu skins which provide more variety in texture. We are also still meat eaters, so occasionally I’ll add chicken drumsticks into the mix and let it simmer away until the meat is fall off the bone tender. Same approach could be used for short ribs too if you’re feeling a little fancy!

If you ever have a bunch of ingredients you want to add into a soup but just not sure how to do it, feel free to leave a comment or email me and I’m more than happy to gives some tips!

Kohlrabi and tofu soup

serves 4

materials:

6 cups water
2 small (or 1 large) kohlrabi bulbs, peeled and thinly sliced
2-3 medium carrots, peeled and sliced at a bias
6 dried shiitake mushrooms
1 sheet of kombu
4 cloves garlic, smashed
1 tbsp chicken or vegetable bouillon (I use Knorr Chicken Bouillon)
1/2 tsp salt
1/4 tsp white pepper
1 tbsp oyster sauce (optional)
8 oz (half block) tofu, any texture will work, cut into 1/2” cubes
2 green onions, chopped

steps:

1. In a large pot over medium high heat, combine water, kohlrabi, carrots, mushrooms, kombu, garlic, bouillon, salt and pepper. Bring to a boil and reduce heat to maintain a simmer. Cover with lid and simmer until vegetables are tender and broth is flavorful, 30 minutes. Every few minutes, check on the soup and skim any scum/impurities off the top with a spoon.

2. Remove the kombu and discard. Remove the mushrooms, cut in half, and return back to the soup. Taste the soup and adjust salt and pepper to your liking. Add the oyster sauce if you want a little more umami and sweetness in the broth.

3. Add the tofu and continue to simmer until tofu is warmed through, 5 to 10 minutes. Turn off the burner and allow the soup to cool for a few minutes before serving. Add the green onions and serve.