Vegetable Manchow Soup

Its winter time. And anything which is hot and spicy will be on the top of soup at home thinking they can never get the restaurant flavor. Here we are presenting one such kind of soup which you can make at home and yet get restaurant flavor” vegetable manchow soup”

 Ingredients:
· cup shredded cabbage
· ¼ cup grated carrots
· ¼ to ⅓ cup sliced or chopped mushrooms(optional)
· ¼ cup finely chopped French beans
· ¼ cup finely chopped onion or spring onion whites
· 1 tsp finely chopped ginger/adrak
· 1 tsp finely chopped garlic/lahsun
· 1 tsp finely chopped celery (optional)
· 1 to 2 fresh red chilies or green chilies, finely chopped
· ½ tsp rice vinegar or regular vinegar
· 2 tsp soy sauce or add as required
· ¼ tsp black pepper or white pepper powder, add as required
· 3 cups water or veg stock
· 6 tsp cornstarch dissolved in 2 tbsp water (for a slight thicker consistency in the soup, dissolve 7 to 8 tsp corn starch in 3 tbsp water)
· 2 tsp finely chopped coriander leaves for garnish, (optional)
· 1 tbsp sesame oil or any other oil
· salt as required

Note : The cooking should be done very quickly on medium to high flame ,as we should allow the vegetables to get cooked flavor they should be like stir fried ones. Avoid putting a lid too.

 Method:
*first chop all the veggies into small pieces and keep aside.
*heat oil in a wok or pan and add the chopped fresh red chilies, garlic and ginger. sauté for a minute
*then add chopped onions. Sauté  again for a minute.
*now add finely chopped French beans and chopped mushrooms(optional). stir fry on a medium to high flame till the mushrooms get lightly browned from the edges.
*then add grated carrots, shredded cabbage, finely chopped capsicum/bell pepper & celery.
*stir fry on a medium to high flame for 3 to 4 minutes. add black pepper and soy sauce. stir.
*add water or veg stock to the stir fried veggies.
*season  with salt. You should remember to add less salt initially as soy sauce already has salt in it.
*Allow the soup to come to a simmer on medium flame.
*meanwhile. make a smooth paste of the corn starch with water.
* Add the corn starch paste to the soup.
*stir very well and let the manchow soup thicken.
*lastly add regular vinegar. switch off the flame. stir and check the taste. add more seasonings like salt, black pepper or soy sauce or vinegar if required.
*in the meantime, if you have cooked noodles, then add them to medium hot oil for frying.  You can serve fried noodles with soup. Every one enjoys these crunchy things with soup.( this is an optional step)
stir and serve vegetable manchow soup hot topped with fried noodles or just plain garnished with coriander leaves.

Even though it looks a long, time taking recipe,once you taste it,you will be wanting to make more..try it and enjoy.

--Pushpa