Whenever my family and I went out to eat at a Canontese restaurant, we’d always get some kind of dumpling noodle soup. While this soup was and still is one of my mom and dad’s favorite dishes, I never really cared for it. I much preferred stir-fried noodles because I always burned my tongue on the piping-hot soup. As I got older and became pescetarian, I was always weary about whether the broths were vegetarian or chicken-based. So even if I wanted that one-off noodle soup, I never ordered it.
But now that I have a homemade vegetable broth that I would be happy to drink by the cups, I figured that now is my chance to make my version of dumpling noodle soup.
My version of dumpling noodle soup ironically omits the noodles because I prefer to have extra dumplings to eat. I guess that is just dumpling soup then. Truth be told, I remember always wanting more than the four measly dumplings or wontons that restaurants gave! I also added more vegetables and beancurd sticks as a source of protein. Really though, you can make dumpling noodle soup however you want. Consider my version to be a template that you can use for experimenting to find your own unique recipe.
Chinese Dumpling Vegetable Soup
Ingredients
- 18 frozen vegetable dumplings, or your dumpling of choice
- 1 liter vegetable broth (check out my favorite here)
- 2 beancurd sticks, rehydrated and cut into 3-inch pieces, or soft tofu
- 3 small carrots, peeled and diagonally sliced
- 5 stalks of bok choy, cut into 1-inch pieces, or another green vegetable
- Ground white pepper, optional
Instructions
- Have two serving bowls ready. Steam or boil frozen dumplings as per package directions. When dumplings are done, divide evenly into serving bowls.
- Keep serving bowls near the stove. In a small saucepan, bring vegetable broth and beancurd sticks to boil over medium to medium-high heat. Once broth is boiling, remove beancurd sticks and divide portions evenly into serving bowls.
- Add carrots to broth and once broth is back to a boil, remove carrots and divide portions into the serving bowls. Repeat with the bok choy. Pour or ladle broth over prepared bowls and serve immediately with optional ground white pepper sprinkled on top.
