Hot and Sour Cabbage Soup
October 16th, 2007
Stumble it!
I never know what the hell to do with cabbage. The options always seem to be cole slaw (which I don’t ever want or feel like an entire cabbage worth of), sour kraut (see cole slaw), or some sort of cabbage salad, usually involving ramen noodles (which I like, but only sometimes).
Today I found myself with a cute little organic cabbage in my refrigerator, but not much else. I also had some baked tofu and some carrots, and after looking in the fridge a million times, I had an idea for a soup. Somewhere in my brain lived this soup - a light tomato base, with sweet and sour and spicy flavorings. I can’t think of where I might have tasted something like this in the past, but there it was. Who was I to argue? It used the damn cabbage, didn’t it?
I’m really pleased with the results. It’s a really comforting, warming winter soup. If you have extra ingredients on hand like bell peppers, mushrooms, or zucchini, feel free to add them in. I gave it a billion grinds of black pepper to finish it, and it really brought everything together. Seasoned rice vinegar is the sour flavor here, but if you only have regular rice vinegar, you can make a substitution as follows: One cup of seasoned rice vinegar is the same as 3/4 cup white rice vinegar plus 1/4 cup sugar plus 2 teaspoons salt. That’s what the internet told me, I haven’t tried it myself!
Hot and Sour Cabbage Soup
Serves six?
1 Tbs Oil
1 Small Onion, minced
1 Small Cabbage, about the size of a grapefruit
2 Large Carrots, chopped
1 15oz Can Tomatoes, blended smooth
6 Cups Water
1 Cup Cubed Pressed, Baked Tofu (like wildwood baked)
1/4 Cup Tamari, low sodium
1/3 Cup Seasoned Rice Vinegar (see note on substituting above)
1 tsp Hot Red Chili Flakes
1/2 tsp Salt
Black Pepper, to taste (a lot!)
Heat a large 5 qt soup pot that has a heavy lid over medium heat. Add oil and onion, and saute until golden. Meanwhile, quarter your cabbage, remove the core, and shred the cabbage with a large chef’s knife. Add carrots, tomatoes, cabbage and water to the pot and stir well. Add the tofu, tamari, vinegar, chili flakes and salt. Bring to a boil, cover, then turn heat down to medium low. Simmer for 20 minutes or until cabbage and carrots are the desired tenderness.
Grind a lot of fresh black pepper over the top and serve.
29 Comments Add your own
1. daphne | October 16th, 2007 at 7:44 pm
i got excited as soon as i saw this soup on flickr! exactly what i need for my cold.
2. Alex | October 16th, 2007 at 8:09 pm
In what way is seasoned rice vinegar seasoned?
3. Lolo | October 16th, 2007 at 8:12 pm
Alex - It’s seasoned with sugar and salt. There are directions for making it in the intro to the recipe.
4. allicia (no xs) | October 16th, 2007 at 9:25 pm
This reminds me of a soup I get at this vegan place in Worcester called Quan Yin. The hot and sour soup has a thin broth, and I like it a lot better than the usual mucuos-y kind they have at most Chinese restaurants.
Also, you are so creative! If I saw cabbage and not much else in my fridge, I would probably give up hope and go hungry for the rest of the day.
5. Cedar | October 16th, 2007 at 11:26 pm
This looks so incredibly good, I saved the recipe for the future!
6. Jessica | October 17th, 2007 at 5:32 am
Mmm… it’s almost like Kim-chee soup.
7. the village vegan | October 17th, 2007 at 10:44 am
Funny– last night I was looking for a recipe for hot and sour soup with cabbage. I think I’ve found what I was looking for!
8. Carla | October 17th, 2007 at 5:08 pm
I’m the same with cabbage. I’ll buy one, spend ages finally using it up and then not buy another for a long time. I will keep this in mind for when I have the last of a pesky cabbage to use up.
9. Kimberlee | October 18th, 2007 at 1:39 pm
I bought an entire head of cabagge for “egg” rolls only to find out the wrappers really had egg in them! I have a use for that silly cabbage now! Thank you.
10. Jody | October 18th, 2007 at 10:36 pm
I had some leftover cabbage from my last CSA share. It had seen better days and this sounded like a good dish to use it up with.
Here’s the catch… I’ve always been a bit ambivalent towards hot and sour soup. (Isn’t that ironic?) Anyway, I made it and it is great. Perhaps I like it because now I am actually 100% sure what I am tasting. I think in the past I’ve never been sure what the flavors were.
Here’s a tip for the Boston folks. The Super 88 near Grasshopper carries these Soya Co tofu chunks that are flavored. The hot and spicy package was great for this soup. FYI - Soya Co which makes them is they same people that make Tofettes that cost a lot more at the supermarket. I emailed Soya co to confirm vegan-ness as the ingredients list is a bit sketchy with descriptive things like “sauce”. They confirmed that all Soya Co products are animal free, including chicken flavor!
11. Hillary | October 19th, 2007 at 5:22 pm
The bowl and spoon give the soup an authentic look! I love love love hot and sour soup, and this looks like an exact veganized replica.
12. Erin | October 21st, 2007 at 9:24 pm
This is the first Lolo recipe I’ve tried and it was awesome!! Thank you
I’m in Australia so for the tofu I used Mr Lee’s seasoned pressed tofu - was perfect.
It was so long since I’d bought cabbage I had no idea it cost $3 for a half head now.
13. Zlamushka | October 23rd, 2007 at 12:48 pm
Hot and Sour!!! I love that one. I am sooo trying I used to love it while I was in China… but now that I dont eat so much meat anymore (or rather none), I just was looking for something like this!
14. jsled | October 25th, 2007 at 10:49 am
This is quite delicious.
We used veg. stock for 4 cup of water, savory cabage and mirin (with a bit of salt) in place of the seasoned rice vinegar. I didn’t think the red-pepper flakes would be hot enough, and had planned to add some sriracha, but didn’t need it. Also, canned-sliced, roughly chopped water chestnuts worked very well with it, too. The black pepper really does bring it together.
15. Cookthink: VeganYumYum co&hellip | October 29th, 2007 at 12:08 pm
[…] As a former cheesemaker and life-long carnivore, I am far from vegan. But I am excited to get this cookbook because I love the variety of Lauren’s recipes and the way she explains their qualities. (Who knew cheeseless mac and cheese could be so good?) I also love her photos and her style — beautiful but not overstylized — and her “real” looking food. Most of all, I love her writing. She’s funny, honest and personable, but she doesn’t strive for laughs or try to bare her soul. She tends towards brevity but leaves nothing out. How better to start a post on cabbage than with this sentence: “I never know what the hell to do with cabbage.” (In this case, she made a delicious hot and sour cabbage soup.) […]
16. wisdom goddess born | November 2nd, 2007 at 12:16 pm
LoLo
I really agree with the last commentor, except that I am striving to eat less cruely and more healthy so you have inspired me in so many ways. I am so looking forward to your book and Veganomicon as well as purchasing many more. So far I have been struggling with trying a new lifestyle and still cooking for my carnivore family, but still I know you make delcious recipes that my entire family can eat. Thank you.
17. lylah ledner | November 30th, 2007 at 6:56 pm
i was just thinking….hmmm…what am i going to do with my head of cabbage? thanks!!!!!!!!!
18. lylah ledner | November 30th, 2007 at 7:18 pm
just put this together….i happened to have all the ingredients…thanks again
19. lylah ledner | December 7th, 2007 at 5:59 pm
OK…I DID make this soup and I have to tell you ….it WAS AWESOME. Michael and I LOVED it….and will make it often. Thanks for having the cabbage in your refrig!
blessings…
20. Laura | December 30th, 2007 at 10:09 am
I was looking for cabbage recipes because we bought this HUGE head of cabbage at the farmer’s market. So I made this last night and it was delicious! Thanks for the recipe! Boyfriend even said it was probably the best cabbage soup he’d ever had!
Now what to do with all the rest of the cabbage…
21. Jaime | January 5th, 2008 at 8:10 pm
I just made this, and it’s amazing! On first taste, though, it didn’t seem so hot, so I added some more chili flakes… And now I’m taking a break from eating because my mouth’s so on fire. But it’s absolutely delicious!
22. Beth | January 28th, 2008 at 7:56 pm
This soup looks amazing. I’m just reading back through your blog after stumbling on it for the first time today. However, I made cabbage rolls with shredded cabbage along with some other random stuff I threw in the pan. I don’t know how you feel about the ground “beef” that Boca or Morningstar Farms make, but it used that, some carmelized onions (though I love your super-carmelized onion idea…I could eat just carmelized onions, and frequently poach some from the pan while cooking), sauerkraut, caraway…sauteed in white wine and stuffed in white bread rolls. Some other herbs, too. It was nothing gourmet, but both my omni husband and my vegetarian toddler son were quite pleased with them.
Just another way to use up some cabbage. My husband used some of the extra filling in a grilled-cheese manner with extra sauerkraut.
I love, love, LOVE that your blog is so beautifully photographed. I’m a huge sucker for cookbooks, but I much prefer the ones that are photographed at several steps along the way, especially if the ingredients do something weird but expected at some point. It’s nice to have a reference of “oh, good, it’s SUPPOSED to look like that!”
23. Scrappy Badger » Bl&hellip | February 1st, 2008 at 9:08 pm
[…] me feel run down. It’s the kind of cold that screams for soup, so when I saw a recipe for Hot and Sour Cabbage Soup at VeganYumYum I decided to try it. It was […]
24. Cure Your Cold - Eat this&hellip | February 20th, 2008 at 8:03 pm
[…] to Vegan Yum Yum for this delicious cold-curing Hot and Sour Cabbage Soup. I get a lot of my recipes from awesome food blogs and most of them I read religiously but never […]
25. » Vegetarian Challe&hellip | March 11th, 2008 at 11:00 pm
[…] Hot and Sour Cabbage Soup at VeganYumYum […]
26. Alexis | March 16th, 2008 at 12:17 pm
I was looking at the head of cabbage in my fridge that desperately needs to be used because I’ve put off cooking to get over the flu, and I remembered this recipe. It sounds so perfect and mostly uses stuff I already have! I’m really excited to make it.
27. bethie | May 29th, 2008 at 10:52 am
My fave Chinese Restaraunt went out of business
and I mourn for their hot & sour soup. I can’t wait to try your version!
28. Craving soup « Betw&hellip | May 29th, 2008 at 11:27 am
[…] of things from LoLo’s site and they have been quite tasty and easy to prepare. Today, the hot and sour cabbage soup and minestrone soup caught my eye. I will have to be patient and wait for fall to arrive to get […]
29. Serena | August 19th, 2008 at 2:15 pm
This recipe is super amazing! It tastes so good that you forget how easy it is to make! I found myself low on rice vinegar and used apple cidar vinegar to fill in and the taste was just brilliant. My son loves it, too!
Thanks so much!
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