Better than your average ramen.

While growing up, I always enjoyed an egg dropped into my ramen noodles.  Now I prefer crumbled tofu, and I always try to add something green such as seaweed or kale.  Instead of using the flavoring packets, which aren't always vegan, I keep a jar of vegetable stock concentrate in the freezer and make an instant vegan broth.  I like to add sesame seeds, a drop of toasted sesame oil, splash of soy sauce, and a couple red pepper flakes as well. 

Savory coconut milk soup

This is an improvised soup that turns out a little different each time I make it. Here's what this weekend's edition turned out like.

Ingredients:
Vegetable stock
Coconut milk
Diced onion
Minced garlic
Diced shallot
Red potatoes cut into cubes
Chopped carrots
Diced green pepper
Shredded savoy cabbage
Sliced shitake mushrooms
Sliced crimini mushrooms
Extra firm tofu cut into cubes
Water chestnuts
Cilantro
Cooked brown rice
Sriracha hot sauce

First, I put a little oil in the pot and sauted the onions and garlic for a couple minutes. Then, I added the vegetable stock and cooked the potatoes and carrots for about 10 minutes on their own. When the potatoes were tender I added the rest of the veggies and tofu.


Finally, I added coconut milk, more vegetable stock, and cooked rice and let it all simmer on the stove.


(In the past, I have served the rice separately and then poured the soup over top. This time I just added it in the soup because I only had about 1/2 cup of rice in the pantry.)