Living abroad, there is almost zero chance you can buy a Hong Kong home-style soup, unless cook it yourself. So, here it comes a self-rescue vegan Canton soup that can be made in 30 minutes.
In Hong Kong, soup is a key element in a meal, as we always say ‘three dishes, one soup (三餸一湯)’ is the best. We usually have flavoursome Canton soup, or called double-boiled soup (lou5 fo2 tong1,老火湯), which mostly involves meat and takes hours to cook.
Don’t bother to spend hours babysitting a soup, I turn to an alternative—quick-boiled tomato and potato soup (番茄薯仔湯). We called it gwan2 tong1 滾湯 in Cantonese. My mom used to make it when she was short in cooking time, by throwing the fresh tomatoes and potatoes in a pot of vigorously boiling water, to bring out all the essence under 30 minutes.
Improvised Version
After reading “How Not to Die”, I often remind myself adding more vegetable elements to a dish. Although the traditional one only uses tomato and potato, why not add some lentils which are rich in protein? Lentil itself is great for a vegan protein broth, like this Easy Lentil Soup.
Vegan Canton Soup Recipe
This plant-based Canton soup is humble, hearty, and suitable for everyone. Boil everything together and enjoy it in 30 minutes!
Ingredients
Serves 2
- 120 g ripe tomatoes, chunked
- 1 small potato, diced
- 50 g black lentils
- ¼ onion, sliced or diced
- 1 clove garlic, minced
- 1 tsp tomato paste
- 1 tsp salted vegetable bouillon powder
- 1 L water
- salt
- oil
How to Make
- Warm a tsp of oil in a pot over medium-low heat, cook the onions and garlic until fragrant.
- Stir in the tomatoes and a generous pinch of salt to cook until they collapse. Then add the potatoes and cook until slightly brown.
- Stir in the lentils, water, bouillon powder and tomato paste. Cover with a lid and cook for about 15 minutes, or until the lentils are soften. Be careful the lentils may cause boil over. Have a taste and adjust. Enjoy while it’s hot!
