Soysauce free chinese soup

 
Ingredients for 2:
·         1 green and 1 red sweet pepper  - deseeded and cut length ways
·         1 medium sized onion  - half to be finely chopped and the other half cut as other vegetables
·         10 baby corn – cut into halves
·         Half a leek  - cut length ways
·         2 sticks of celery -  cut length ways
·         A handful of French green beans
·         A handful of mange tout -
·         1 chilli pepper
·         1 vegetable stock cube - crushed
·         5  garlic cloves – each cut length ways

METHOD
1.       Since we are not using soy sauce due to its sugar content, to create the dark colour for the soup, start by frying the chopped onion with the crushed vegetable stock cube in 3 tablespoons of olive oil. Stir until we obtain a dark mixture.
2.       Add 500ml of water to this and mix well until the mass is dissolved in the pot.
3.       Add all the baby corns as they are the hardest to cook amongst the vegetables. Leave it the pot to simmer for 5 minutes.
4.       Add the rest of the vegetables, chilli, salt and pepper. Cover and leave to boil for another 5 minutes. Taste and adjust seasoning.
5.       If the vegetable are still too crunchy for you, cook for a few minutes longer.
6.       The dish should be ready to serve. This dish is best served immediately after cooking or the vegetables will become limp in the heat…

The preparation takes longer than the actual cooking. However it can all be done under 30 minutes.