Chinese-style Shrimp and Tofu Soup

January 17, 2014 by Soup Guru Leave a comment

I love Chinese food, I simply do. I never been to China (yet, hopefully one day I will) but the best Chinese food I have tried was indeed while travelling. I experienced great Chinese food in Australia, they have amazing restaurants there covering quite a range of different regional gastronomy. I particularly and fondly remember this charming Chinese restaurant in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia: the Old China Cafe http://www.oldchina.com.my/, where I tasted some excellent spicy soups in a very nice environment.

Old China Cafe-Kuala Lumpur

I also have a very good memory of some Chinese restaurants in New York, specially a great dim sum buffet in Queens. Unfortunately there are not really good Chinese restaurants where I live but this fact encouraged me to do some research and start cooking my own Chinese food. I began many years ago and nowadays we usually have home-made Chinese at least once a week. There are a few Asian food stores in the area where I stock my pantry with the basics. Today I am sharing with you a Chinese-inspired soup that I have prepared for a light tasty supper, it is very easy to prepare and quick, here we go!

Servings: 4

Preparation time: 5 minutes

Cooking time: 25 minutes

Ingredients

• a dash of olive oil
• 1 garlic clove, pressed
• 1 teaspoon fresh ginger, grated
• 1/2 onion, chopped
• Cayenne pepper to taste
• 1 cup of frozen (or fresh) peeled shrimps
• a dash of Chinese rice wine
• 1 liter fish stock
• 1 cup diced firm tofu
• Soy sauce to taste
• a dash of sesame oil
• 1/2 teaspoon  of dried Chinese seaweed

Preparation Heat the oil in a medium pot, add the garlic, ginger, onion and cayenne pepper (if using) and sauté over a medium-low heat until translucent, around 5 minutes. Stir in the shrimps and pour the rice wine, stir and turn up the heat to let some of the alcohol to evaporate for around 5 minutes.

Add the fish stock and bring to a boil, drop in the tofu cubes and simmer for 10 minutes to let the tofu impregnate with the stock flavour. Season with the soy sauce and the sesame oil.

Add the seaweed to the bottom of your bowls, serve the soup and enjoy!