Manchow Vegetable Soup

This heavenly tasting soup is a darling in my house. My son loves it so much that he keeps requesting/demanding to make it every week. Thanks to this spicy tasting soup that he has learnt to enjoy other spicy dishes churning out of my kitchen :)

Manchow soup has been one of my favorite oriental  Indo-Chinese soups from day 1. I tasted it for the first time, when I was in my teens and till today I don't exit an Indo-Chinese restaurant until I have tasted it. It is hard to find that 'hit the spot' taste in the restaurants out here so I finally started trying out recipes and zeroed in on this recipe. Have been making it from past few years :) so you can be rest assured that it is well tried and tested/tasted and enjoyed!

My senses love the aromatic blend of ginger, garlic and chillies. It is very nostalgic for me when I bring these 3 ingredients together on my chopping board! I always take a minute to take deep breaths to get that aroma in :):) Best part of this soup is that you get the liberty of adding so many vegetables into it like green beans, carrots, cabbage, mushrooms, green onions, capsicum, cauliflower etc etc. What more a mother wants than to see all that goodness going into the tummy of her little ones :) Then there are spices- chilli paste, hot sauce, vinegar etc. which basically gets that hot, spicy, sour taste into the soup which is so soul satisfying!

Only downside in making this soup is it requires lots of cutting and chopping:) If you have a cutting gadget/processor, go for it by all means. I enjoy my chopping board and a good sharp knife!

Let us take a look at this recipe:

Ingredients:

• 2 cups vegetables chopped finely (carrots, cabbage, green beans, mushroom)
• 1 tsp each ginger, garlic, green chillies finely chopped
• 5 cups vegetable stock 
• 2 tsp distilled vinegar
• 2 tbsp soy sauce (low sodium)
• 2 tsp red chilli sauce
• 1/2 tsp green chilli sauce
• 1/2 tsp black pepper
• salt to taste
• 2-3 tbsp corn starch
• 1 tbsp oil
• 1 cup fried noodles to garnish
• 3 tbsp green onion/spring onion to garnish

Preparation:

• Heat oil in a wok or a soup pot, keep on high flame, add ginger garlic green chillies and toss quickly, Add all the chopped vegetables+1 tbsp of spring onions and saute for a minute or two. 
• Pour vegetable stock and mix everything together once. 
• Add red chilli sauce, green chilli sauce, soy sauce, vinegar, stir once and bring to a boil. 
• Make a mixture of corn starch and little water, pour into the soup while you stir continuously else starch lumps may form. 
• Add black pepper and taste the soup, you can adjust the sauces at this point. Simmer the soup till it thickens. 
• Serve hot soup in a bowl topped with fried noodles, spring onions. Keep bowls of soy sauce, vinegar with green chillies and hot sauce for adjusting the taste as you like :) 
• I have noticed that when kids get that privilege of adding extra sauces/condiments by themselves, they tend to eat and enjoy more cause they feel like they are the sous chefs :)

njoY!! happY cookinG!!

Health Benefits: All the vegetables that you incorporate in the soup are loaded with fibre, carbs, minerals and vitamins. It a filling appetiser and the blend of spices that go into the soup gives that extra kick to your taste buds along with providing anti-inflammatory, antibacterial properties. Broth based soups are always low on calories and filling which in turn will make you eat less food. You only have to keep an eye on sodium intake. Add less salt as soy sauce contains sodium.