Chinese soups are wonderfully healthy and yummy. Did you know that there are all different sorts of Chinese soups? There are the long cook kinds of soup where a lot of ingredients are slowly simmered over many hours to a rich, health enhancing and savoury perfection. So good! There are also the nourishing soups that are specific to tweaking the balance of your body. And then there are the soups that you can make quick and easy, on a daily basis, to augment your daily meal and comfort your soul.
This soup one is one of the latter. Fast, super healthy and yummilicious. And so satisfying! My hubby's crazy easy to make but oh so super delicious Dried Krill Seaweed Soup 銀蝦紫菜湯. Total soup-iliciously nom nom territory!
Recently we've become more and more obsessed with that bountiful flora of the oceans, namely seaweed. Seaweed is an amazing superfood, one of the most nutrient packed foods on our planet while being cholesterol free, low fat and low in calories! It's also packed with fiber and antioxidants as well as being a source of many vitamins and minerals. And despite all that, lol, it's super duper yummy! And so dead easy to prepare.
Above is the dried disk of red seaweed 紫菜, sometimes called dried laver, that you can find in both the wet markets of Hong Kong and the supermarkets. The red seaweed used for these disks is the 'pyropia' type from the genus of red algae; the same species used to make 'nori', the dried seaweed sheets used to wrap up sushi and known for its strong umami flavor.
It's super easy to cook this seaweed, it just needs contact with boiling liquid to hydrate back into a delicate, wispy and soft texture.
Moving on to the other major ingredient, dried krill 銀蝦! Dried krill is also known as sakura shrimp, okiami, or silver shrimp and in Chinese as 銀蝦, 磷蝦, 櫻花蝦 and 蝦皮. Whew, so many different names! This might be a new ingredient for some, we only cottoned on to these recently ourselves. These tiny shrimp are about a half an inch in length and come in colors from white to orange to pink. Actually, it's the same 'krill' that blue whales feast on by the tonnes in the depths of the sea. Cool, amirite?!
Krill packs as much nutritional goodness as seaweed, being a rich source of omega-3 and antioxidants! Look for these special little shrimps at your wet market or asian grocery store in the dried goods section.
Pssst...Did you know that this dried krill is also what is used to make shrimp paste, that wonderfully stinky and umami packed Chinese condiment! You should be getting the idea that these dried krill are packing some serious flavor!
Now, to make the soup. It's all done in the final soup bowl so start with that. Toss a handful of the dried krill into your soup bowl. You have an option with the dried krill: you can toss in as is, or, if you have the time, you can pan fry the krill in a pan over low heat (no oil) until fragrant. This will add an extra oomph to the soup.
Next add a spoonful of chopped garlic to the mix.
And then add a spoonful or two of umami packed fish sauce and a delicious dribble of soy sauce. Get a good fish sauce for maximum flavor (we use Three Crab, nom, nom). And remember that fish sauce is saltiness as well as flavor . So keep that in mind when adding fish sauce!
To give your soup the unctuous final finish add a dollop of sesame oil. Or, even better, scallion oil if you have it, see our recipe on how to make your own scallion oil, omgosh, so yummilicious.
Final ingredient! The seaweed of course. Snip out the amount you desire and add to the soup bowl. The amount is kinda up to you, more or less all works. We like to pack the soup with seaweed so we put in quite a bit. With everything in the soup bowl it's time to cook. Just add boiling water straight to the soup bowl. Cover and let sit for a couple of minutes.
And ta-da, your easy yummilicious Dried Krill Seaweed Soup is ready to go. Add a sprinkle of chopped spring onions if you like and enjoy this very healthy, very delicious Chinese soup!
Dried Krill Seaweed Soup
銀蝦紫菜湯
(4 servings) Prep time: 2 mins Cook time: 5 mins
Ingredients:
- 2 tbsps dried krill, 銀蝦幹
- 1 clove garlic, minced
- 1-2 tbsps fish sauce
- 1/2 tsp sweet soy sauce or regular light soy sauce
- 1/2 tsp sesame oil (or scallion oil)
- 1/2 oz dried red seaweed 紫菜, 14g
- 1 1/2 liters boiling water, 6 cups
- 1 tbsp spring onion, chopped
Directions:
Pan fry krill (optional): Heat a pan over low heat. Add krill, no oil, and stir fry for a minute or two until fragrant. Don't let the krill burn. Remove from pan.
Add ingredients: Add dried krill, minced garlic, 1 tbsp fish sauce, soy sauce and sesame oil to large soup bowl. Use scissors to cut the seaweed into four pieces and add to the bowl.
Cook the soup: Add the boiling water to soup bowl. Cover with a lid and let sit for 5 mins.
Adjust taste: After 5 mins, remove lid and stir. Taste test and add more fish sauce if needed. Sprinkle with spring onions and serve hot. Enjoy!
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