This very quick cooking Chinese Style Mustard Green Soup is an excellent flavorful and light soup. Served with rice it makes a nice meal. You may use Bok choy for a soup, it has less bite than mustard greens. However, the soup will lose some of its color and spicy hardiness, Bok Choy is lighter in color and in flavor. To make this soup more substantial, add one cup of any shredded meat to it, turkey, chicken, beef or pork.

INGREDIENTS

1/2 pound (about 4 cups sliced) mustard greens or bok choy
1 quart chicken stock
1 tablespoon fresh gingerroot, grated
4 ounces sliced mushrooms, about 2 cups
1 teaspoon low-sodium soy sauce or to taste
1/2 teaspoon sesame oil*
Dash of hot pepper.* (optional)

DIRECTIONS

Slice the greens into thin strips. Heat the chicken stock in a saucepan and add gingerroot. Bring to a boil and stir in sliced mushrooms. Stir in the sliced greens and the soy sauce. Cook for about 12 minutes or until greens are tender. Add sesame oil and serve with hot rice on the side.

Makes about servings

*If you use hot sesame oil, no need to add dash hot pepper. I use Roland brand Hot Sesame Oil.

Hint:

Serve rice in a bowl and spoon the cooked greens along with broth over the rice. Add a little extra sesame oil to the dish.

Serve the soup broth in a cup with a slice of hot buttered corn bread.

If you are interested in learning about cooking Chinese-stye, Mastering the Art of Chinese Cooking has good step-by-step directions and pictures to guide you. It is not available directly from Amazon, but it is available from various Amazon associates. I noticed that it is available in paperbook, since I am not familiar with that version, I recommend purchasing the hardcover copy. Another good Chinese cooking cookbook is Florence Lin's Cooking with Fire Pots, first printed in 1979 by Hawthorne. If you happen to see it, my advice is to grab it. No pictures but authentic recipes.