Wakame, Meatballs and Tofu Soup

A neighbour gave me a packet of wakame [seaweed with mixed vegetables] from Taiwan.  A tablespoon of it is more than enough to cook a pot of soup for the family of 3.  The easiest way is to add it to boiling water, break in an egg and add seasoning to taste.  

 

See here for more information about Wakame.

Rehydrated Wakame

For a change, I made some meatballs with fish paste, added tofu  to the soup and that's it, a simple, tasty and hot soup for a cold raining night [has been raining almost all evenings in our area].

Ingredients for Homemade Meatballs

100 gm fish paste [I used Spanish Mackerel fish]

100 gm minced meat

2 tbsp of finely chopped carrot
salt, pepper and sesame oil to taste

• Marinate with 1/2 tsp each of salt, pepper and sesame oil.  Mix well and add 1 tsp cornstarch.  Stir in one direction until paste is sticky thick, then slap it against the side of bowl for several times.  Transfer to a clean container, cover and refrigerate until later use. 
• Form in round balls before cooking.

Other Ingredients for Soup

700 ml water or soup stock

1 tbsp dried wakame

1 piece soft tofu - cut cubes

1 spring onion - chopped

1 tsp fried garlic crisps with a little oil

salt, msg and pepper to taste

 

 

1. Bring water or stock to boil.  Add in meatballs to boiling stock, then add in the wakame.
2. Cook for a minute then add in tofu cubes.  Let soup comes to boil again.
3. Add seasoning to taste.  Boil soup for another minute.
4. Serve hot with some chopped spring onions and fried garlic crisps.

Notes: [see here for more information on Wakame]

What is Wakame? Wakame is a thin and stringy seaweed, deep green in color and used in making seaweed salad and miso soup. Wakame is common in Japanese and other Asian cuisines.

While nori, the seaweed used for rolling sushi, is usually sold dried, wakame can be found either dried or fresh, in a refrigerated, and sealed package. When refrigerated, the wakame is preserved with sea salt and is partially dry so that it’s moist to the touch, but not dehydrated and brittle like nori sheets.

Along with the increased popularity of both the raw food diet (also called living foods) and macrobiotic diets, wakame, has gained in popularity in the west. Proponents of both macrobiotic and raw foods diet extol the life-giving and healthful properties of wakame along with other seaweeds.

I'm sharing this post with The Spanish Wok- The TSK Butler Soup Kitchen 

Monthly Blogger Event November 2012.

and also Muhibbah Malaysian Monday [November-December 2012] hosted by Suresh of 3 hungry tummies