Cooking Recipe Crackling Rice Vegetable Soup
Recipe Ingredients
Directions
Rice Cakes: Work with cooked leftover rice that is slightly moist and
sticky. If too dry, reheat with sprinkling of water until sticky.
Spread rice in frying pan or pie tin, 1/2" thick. Pack rice into firm
cake: this is important to make sure rice holds together. Place in
oven on low heat, and dry to slightly brittle texture; break into
pieces. Ten minutes before combining with soup, deep-fry rice pieces
until lightly brown. Strain, place in soup tureen, and keep hot in
oven. Avoid holding fried pieces more than 10 minutes, as they tend
to acquire a rancid taste and become overly dry.
Vegetarian Soup: Wash, then soak soybeans overnight in enough water
to cover. Wash and soak Nami mushrooms in 1 cup warm water for 1
hour. When mushrooms are soft, separate caps from stems. In large
soup pot, combine water, beans, mushrooms (and stems), onion and
garlic. Bring to boil, lower heat, and simmer 2 hours. Strain and
reserve stock until ready to finish. Save mushroom caps and 1/2 of
beans for soup.
To finish soup, thinly slice mushroom caps, combine with strained
stock, cooked soybeans, soy sauce, sherry, sesame oil, salt and
sugar. Peel carrot and make thin flower slices (or use flower
cutter); add to soup. Bring soup to just under the boil. Add MSG and
snowpeas. Cook for 2 minutes.
To serve, seat your diners, place soup tureen of freshly fried, hot
rice pieces on table and pour hot soup over them. If rice and soup
are very hot, rice will sizzle and crackle to everyone's joy and
amusement!
Posted by Fred Peters.