Easy Thai Sukiyaki Soup

Sarah and I love this soup. I made this soup often especially during winter months. I used to make the additional sauce to add to the soup that was a little more complicated with fermented bean curd and pickled garlic. This soup will keep well for a week, You can reheat it on the stove or microwave and pour over cooked rice. My recipe is very simple and it tastes very close to the traditional Thai Sukiyaki. You can also make this in a hot pot.

Ingredients

• 1 small daikon or half of a big one, peel and slice into thin sticks

• 1/2 Napa cabbage, cut into 1/2" pieces

• 1 bunch of Chinese celery or regular celery, For the stems, slice into 1/8" long pieces when you get to the leafy parts, slice into 1" long pieces

• soak Napa cabbage and celery in cold water, rinse a few time to get rid of sand(if any) on the stems.

• 2 cups of fish cake, slice to small bite size pieces or 2 cups protein of your choice (chicken, beef, pork, seafood) or mushrooms, tofu. If use meat, marinade with some soy sauce and ground pepper for 15 minutes before add to the soup(don't overcook the meat).

• 1 large container of unsalted soup stock or 6 cups homemade soup plus 6-8 cups of water or 12-16 cups of soup

• 2 tbsp white miso paste or any type of soybean paste

• 2 tbsp Gochujang (Korean hot chili paste)

• 2 tbsp soy sauce (if needed), taste the soup before putting in soy sauce

Instructions

• In a large heavy pot, add soup stock, water, miso paste and Gochujang mix well and cover, cook over medium heat until turn to a boil, if it isn't salty enough add soy sauce.

• add sliced daikon, simmer the soup for 10 minutes.

• add cabbage, celery, fish cake, cover and cook on medium heat until come to a boil. Turn off heat and it's ready to eat by itself or over rice.

Additional Sauce (optional)

If you want to be more authentic add this sauce to the soup.

• 1-2 cubes of fermented bean curd plus a little juice(make the soup more red)

• 2-3 fresh Thai chili peppers, chopped fine or chili flakes (this ingredient is optional)

• 1-2 heads of pickled garlic, sliced thin plus 2 tbsp of juice

• 1 tbsp vinegar

• 1-2 tsp sugar(optional)

Mash fermented bean curd with chili peppers, add the rest of the ingredients, mix well. Adjust the taste to your liking. It should be salty, sour, spicy and a little sweet. Use 1 tsp of dipping sauce per a bowl of soup.

Options:

• Add 2 beaten eggs at the last stage when you add the protein.

• You can also add glass noodle(bean threads). Soak them in cold water for 1/2 hour before cooking them in hot boiling soup for a few minutes until the noodle turns clear. Took the noodle out and separate them from the soup so it doesn't absorb all the soup. Use this instead of cooked rice.