Tofu Soup

Looking for appetizer recipes the other day, I picked up a Korean cookbook. The ingredients in Korean food are very different from my comfort food favorites: cheese, cream, butter, sour cream, cream cheese. All high in fat and calories!

I always gain weight over the winter. I blame the historical need to be prepared for a long hard winter - gain a little weight, kind of like hibernation strategy. :-)  I am looking to avoid comfort food!

Although Costco has been in the area since 2004, we joined a few weeks ago. It took so long to join because I was never impressed with Sam's Club. It just wasn't a nice place to shop, and there were very few items I could use.  I assumed Costco was similar. It's not. Costco has very nice produce and good prices on things we often use. We stocked-up with groceries from Costco last weekend including: broccoli, carrots, mushrooms, mini-peppers, onions.  Too much for the refrigerator. Luckily, it is winter. A table in the garage works. So, how to use all the food before it goes bad? Soup! There was half a block of tofu in the fridge left from Zucchini Tofu Patties last week.

Then I remembered the delicious miso soup at Fusion Japanese.  It was the best, most balanced, flavorful Asian soup I had ever eaten.  A delicious clear broth with a few tofu cubes and green onions. Well, I thought, I can do that.  

Cotehele's Tofu Soup

1/2 block tofu, drained and pressed dry.  Cut tofu in 1/4 inch cubes.

Make a marinade of:
soy sauce
garlic
chili oil
olive oil

Combine tofu and marinade.

In the meantime, make the soup base:
1/4 cup diced onion
8 cups water
2 packets George Washington Golden Broth
1/2 - 1 tsp McKays Chicken Style Seasoning
Bring to boil and simmer while cutting up the veg.

Vegetables:
1 small carrot, slivered
1 each yellow and red mini peppers, slivered
6 thinly sliced brussel sprouts
6-8 finely chopped bella-mini mushrooms

Add vegetables and tofu to soup base.
Simmer a couple of  minutes.

Add Korean Pasta 2-3 minutes before serving.
Sprinkle a little hot chili flakes in soup before plating.

This goes in my keep file. It was very good! This made enough for supper (two of us) and a bowl left for lunch.