What's up everyone?
Today we're making Seaweed Soup,
a dish my dad has made thousands of times.
Hello, everyone!
Today we're learning how to make Seaweed Soup.
Seaweed soup is very simple.
Here, seaweed.
Dried shrimp.
Lean pork.
2 eggs.
Napa cabbage, which makes it taste even better.
When it gets cold, everyone likes to have soup, right?
Eggs and such are very nutritious.
Seaweed is very beneficial for those with thyroid issues.
The iodine.
It's very high in iodine.
Seaweed is very, very nutritious,
Today, we're making 6 servings.
About 1/2 oz.
We'll use a piece and a half.
Depends on how many people you're serving.
You can make less for fewer people.
It doesn't matter.
You can make more, too.
That's fine as well.
Four people asked, "What kind of seaweed do you use?"
including Ken and Amelia from Patreon.
Thank you!
Usually...
There are two kinds, the sushi kind and the soup kind.
We use the one meant for soup.
There are actually way more than two types of seaweed.
In Cantonese, seaweed is zi coi
which is a blanket term for the many types of large algae
that grow in water all over the world.
Harvesting of seaweed goes back to
at least the Neolithic period or more than 10,000 years ago.
Varieties of it are widely consumed today
in cuisines across cultures.
A notable example of another kind of seaweed is kombu,
also known as kelp,
which is an essential ingredient in Japanese soup bases, or dashi.
Yet another kind is wakame, or in Korean, miyeok,
which is used in a Korean seaweed soup or miyeokguk,
a dish that is traditionally eaten after childbirth and on birthdays.
Seaweed is valued for its distinct salty and umami flavor,
a perfect main ingredient for a comforting bowl of soup.
Soak the seaweed in water first.
We're going to soak the seaweed in warm water
for about 10 minutes to rehydrate it.
Seaweed is very easy to clean these days.
It's not sandy, so it just needs a quick soak and a rinse.
I noticed that, a long time ago,
when I bought dried seaweed and washed it,
I had a difficult time washing it.
Seaweed isn't dirty these days.
Right now, it's very clean!
If they did get a package that did have a lot of sand,
what techniques do they have to do?
When you soak the seaweed, the sand will sink to the bottom.
You have to wash it a few more times.
Just like rice.
Keep washing it a couple of times, then it'll be clean.
We have about 1/2 oz of dried shrimp.
Wash it with water.
For the dried shrimp, we’re going to wash it two times.
Then we're going to add hot water
to soak it for at least 5 minutes.
Longer is fine too, since we're going to put it in soup eventually.
We'll use two eggs.
We’ll crack two eggs into a bowl to use for later.
The soup is going to taste better with napa cabbage in it.
The flavor will be more complex.
Notice how my dad cuts twice length-wise first.
That makes it easier to chop it into small pieces
when he turns it perpendicular.
We're aiming for pieces around 1-2 inches wide.
The stem pieces are generally smaller,
and the leafy pieces can be bigger.
We'll cut the pork now.
This is lean pork.
This is enough.
You can cut it into slices or strips.
Some people like to mince it, and that's fine too.
I'm cutting strips today.
For our pork, we’ll cut it first into slices,
then lay them down length-wise to cut them into strips.
If you don't live near an Asian grocery store,
sometimes it can be hard to find ingredients like seaweed
or healthy, high quality noodles to make Chinese dishes with.
If you’ve been following our channel,
you probably know that we've been partnering with Vite Kitchens,
which is an incredible Asian-owned small business
that makes, arguably, the healthiest noodles in the world.
In a recent video, my dad made
the ever-popular chow mein with their noodles,
which was just as good as what you'd get in restaurants
but much, much healthier.
In that video, I also shared a bit of my interview with Tim,
a really cool dude who is the CEO of Vite Kitchens
and a former Michelin Star chef.
His story is really inspiring,
starting a company as a college student,
persevering through rejection and being told “no” by a bunch of “experts”,
and going on to sell over a million packs of noodles.
Their noodles, aka Naked Noods,
are extremely healthy.
They're made with a mixture of quinoa and wheat,
they're PACKED with fiber, iron, and essential vitamins,
and most impressively,
they contain TWENTY THREE grams of protein per block.
To put it in context, that's as much protein as a scoop of protein shake.
Tim and the nimble 15 person team at Vite Kitchens do all of this in-house
in a 1200 sq ft facility in the Bay Area.
From speaking with Tim and the team,
I know a TON of love went into designing and nerding out
over the perfect chemistry of nutrients and flavor profiles.
Apart from the noodles, I just really like Tim
and I feel compelled to share because
he's doing something special that more people should know about.
So, if you want to try some Naked Noods
and support Made With Lau
and a fellow Asian-owned business in the process,
click the link in our description for 10% off your purchase
and free Naked Noods swag.
After we finish cutting the pork,
we'll marinate it in some cornstarch.
That's how we keep the pork smooth.
A little bit of salt, 1/2 tsp.
1 tsp of cornstarch.
1 tbsp water.
Notice how my dad first mixes the cornstarch, salt,
and water together on the side of the bowl.
This prevents clumping and
makes it easier to then mix the marinade with the pork.
We have all of these ingredients listed on our blog at madewithlau.com
along with step-by-step instructions and video clips
to guide you as you make the recipe at home.
All set.
All right, let's start making the soup.
I'm going to heat up the pot first.
Put in some oil and fry the dried shrimp.
That way, the dried shrimp will really release their aroma.
Turn the stove on.
We'll turn the stove on to high heat
and add 1 tbsp of oil to the pot.
Put the dried shrimp in.
Cook the dried shrimp in the oil.
We'll really bloom the flavor of the dried shrimp.
We’ll cook the dried shrimp for about 50-60 seconds
until you start to smell it.
One can of chicken broth.
Don't waste the water you soaked the dried shrimp in.
Why not?
It has some sweetness.
Then, we'll add 6 cups of water.
Put the lid on.
After it comes to a boil,
add the napa cabbage.
The seaweed should have soaked enough too.
Strain it out.
It's come to a boil, so add the vegetables.
After putting in the cabbage,
we’ll cover the pot again with the heat still on high,
until the water comes to a boil,
which should be about 1.5 minutes.
I also wanted to make a special shoutout to thank all of our
wonderful Patreon supporters for helping bring this video to life.
If you enjoy our videos and are interested in supporting us directly,
head on over to patreon.com/madewithlau to learn more!
It's ready. See?
It's boiling.
We'll add the seaweed now.
The pork is going in too.
We'll slowly put the pork into the soup,
making sure to spread them out, so they can cook evenly.
A lot of people like to add tofu, which is great.
But I'm using napa cabbage today.
Finally, when it's boiling again, we'll add the eggs.
Let's beat the eggs first.
We'll quickly beat the eggs
and turn the heat to low to ensure it doesn't boil over.
Then we'll carefully pour the egg into the soup while stirring.
This is same technique we used to pour the eggs
in our Tomato Tofu Soup video.
Okay!
What other soups does Daddy like to make that he uses that seaweed for?
Only seaweed and tofu.
Or if you put it in tomato soup, it's still okay.
Seaweed is a really popular food.
A lot of people like it.
But a lot of people eat dried seaweed from the store, like a snack.
In soup, it is really, really healthy.
and it's low fat.
It's good for your kidney and your thyroid.
For us, when we feel heaty, like with lots of pimples,
then Daddy will make seaweed soup.
If you grew up in a Cantonese household like me,
your parents probably scolded you all the time
for eating too many chips because they were too “yeet hay”.
To this day, my parents still call me out on it
if I come home with even the smallest pimple on my face.
Yeet hay literally translates to “hot air”,
which is a metaphor for our bodies’ energy levels.
In traditional Chinese culture, it's believed that foods have two energies:
yin, or cold, and yang, or hot.
When we consume too much of one or the other,
our bodies become imbalanced and
symptoms like pimples develop as a result.
Yeet hay describes both the foods
and symptoms we feel when we've consumed too much “hot” or “yang” energy,
and a common remedy is something like leung cha (Chinese herbal tea)
or something like Seaweed Soup.
All right.
Time to add salt.
1 tsp first.
You can always add more if it's not enough.
Now, the last thing.
About 1/2 tsp of sesame oil, for that fragrance.
I like to add fish sauce.
If you don't have fish sauce, you can use light soy sauce.
It's up to you.
You could skip them both, too, that's also fine.
1 tsp is enough.
And finally, a dash of white pepper.
Just a bit.
All done!
Give it a taste.
Nice.
It's perfect.
That's good.
The dried shrimp flavor is great, right?
Because we fried it in oil.
It's wonderful.
Friends!
Seaweed Soup!
It's complete.
Hong Doy!
Time for soup!
Time for soup! Cheers!
Seaweed soup is our family's soup too.
You make it all the time.
It's easy to make, tastes good and is very healthy.
You feel good after drinking this.
Did you grow up eating this?
We had seaweed soup all the time.
We could get dried seaweed very easily.
Before, when we were in China, we'd cook it with less stuff.
Like less meat, less dried shrimp.
You can use different ingredients to make this soup, if you like.
Like tofu, bok choy, or seafood.
You can use all kinds of ingredients.
Yes!