Oh man, I love soup season! On a cold, rainy, miserable day a little magic broth is the perfect dinner to lift my spirits.
Growing up in Korea I didn’t know they were called dumplings. I learned the Korean word mandu first, and mostly ate them as yaki mandu which is the fried version. Don’t confuse that with yucky. I never ate one that I would call a yucky mandu. But yaki mandu…….I ate a ton of those!
You could make your own dumplings if your creative juices are flowing. But I was going for an easy weeknight version of this soup so I used frozen dumplings. You just plop them into the broth without even thawing them out. Again, easy weeknight meal is the theme here, so if you come home from work and are in a bind because you didn’t thaw any meat out to cook with this is a great recipe in a pinch!
To stick with the easy weeknight theme, I tried to make this recipe with ingredients anyone could find in their local Piggly Wiggly. The only items that you might have trouble finding are the Thai chilis which could be substituted for jalapenos, and the rock candy which sugar could do just as well. But I needed to use my Thai chilis before they go bad, and I had a new bag of rock candy from a brand I’ve never used and was itching to open it up. Kona and Reese approved and thought they were lukewarm, sweetened ice cubes (picture below). Anyway, I hope you give it a shot and enjoy it as much as we do. If so, feel free to comment below or post a pic on social media!
Serves 4
Preparation Time 10 min
Cook Time 1 hour 15 min
INGREDIENTS:
- 12 cups Swanson chicken broth
- 5 garlic cloves
- 1 onion, peeled
- 1 shallot, peeled
- 3 Thai chilis, ends removed and just 1 sliced thinly
- 1/2 cup soy sauce
- 2 tbsp fish sauce
- 1 tbsp rock candy (or sugar)
- 2 tsp sesame oil
- 1/2 tsp Chinese five spice
- 1.5 lb frozen pork or chicken dumplings
- 2 cups carrots, cut into matchsticks
- 5 green onions, chopped
- 2 cups packed spinach leaves
RECIPE:
Add the broth to a stock pot over high heat and bring to a boil. At the same time, set the oven to broil and, once heated, add the garlic, onion, shallot, and the 2 whole chilis to the oven. Allow the vegetables to brown and then add them to the broth along with the soy sauce, fish sauce, rock candy, oil, and five spice. Let the vegetables and broth simmer for 1 hour then add the dumplings and carrots until the dumplings are cooked through. You’ll have to go through the anguish of trying one to know if it’s done.
Remove from heat and stir in the spinach until the leaves just begin to wilt. Then all you have to do is pour the soup into bowls and serve with chopped green onions and chilis. Enjoy!
