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Searching for a simple vegetarian/vegan broth

3 years ago

Well it is abnormally warm in central Maine. I am still harvesting broccoli arugula and bok choy along with more usual late fall things like kale. Nonetheless it is soup season. I made a somewhat murky broth as a start to a bean vegetable soup. I think I will need comfort food tomorrow.

My soups vegetarian or not tend to be on the hardy side - stew like - which in part means I tend to take a ’everything but the kitchen sink’ approach to making broth. In a dense soup a cloudy broth is fine. But occasionally I like making a clear simple broth with fewer meat beans veggies etc in the final soup. I struggle making a vegetable broth that can stand on it’s own in a simpler soup. I have plans to have a dinner with a friend who has many dietary restrictions. I believe she doesn’t like miso which is what I would use to add umami in a vegetarian soup. I like the lighter misos though I feel like that they take soup to a specific flavor profile.

Thoughts?

Amanda

PS This week I took my mom to an exhibit of our friend Barbara Sullivan’s work. These are shaped fresco pieces. These photos don’t do justice to the colors of frescoes or her sense of humor.

PPS - Apologies. I have given up on getting photos to upload vertically on gardenweb.

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Comments (8)

Lars
3 years ago
last modified: 3 years ago
When I make vegetable broth, I tend to use just one very strongly flavored vegetable (such as broccoli or asparagus) and then only add onion, celery, and sometimes chilies to it. However, I have not used vegetable broth with beans, unless you count chili broth. I often add tomatoes to beans in addition to chilies, but I do not add garlic or other vegetables, except spinach and/or zucchini, and I do not use spinach or zucchini to make broth.
plllog
3 years ago
Thank-you gor the art! Very cool!

I make two kinds of veg stock, general and green. The general is pretty much like my chicken stock sans chicken, greens is hearty dark greens and aromatics like leeks. General has a couple large Spanish onions (with skin for color), a bunch of carrots (brushed, not peeled), a couple parsnips (also brushed), a very large turnip or equivalen, a couple small rutabagas, a large celery root, and 2-3 stalks of cellery if there isn't much green on the root. Plus whatever might need using up and seems to go with it. Simmered to a faretheewell, and the remaining strings and pulp strained out. For even less murk, omit the rutabaga and all tubers.

For green stock, the usual suspects, any of: green kale, white or green chard, collards, beet greens (golden are better for color), raddish greens, carrot tops, turnip greens, etc., whatever you have, plus a couple of large leeks, including the green part and celery. Add a parsnip or turnip if you like, for sharpness. Spinach, arrugula and other tender greens can go in to use them up, but they're not worth buying for the purpose, though they are pretty sweet and may temper some of the rest. Simmered down, but doesn't take a faretheewell, maybe an hour or two. Again strained of remaining solids.

I make and freeze large batches, and never season. Season whatever I'm adding it to when used.
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nekotish
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Mushrooms add umami. I don't use anything cruciferous in veg stock, I don't care for the taste. Onions, celery, mushrooms (dried mushrooms are great here) green part of leeks if I have them. I don't use carrots because they impart a sweetness that I don't care for but I will use carrots peelings. Same with potato peels. I use worschestershire sauce but do realize that it is not vegetarian or vegan, not sure what an alternate would be. Soy sauce or coconut aminos also contribute umami.
Gooster
3 years ago
last modified: 3 years ago
Yes +1 to mushrooms for umami. I just use the core aromatics -- onion, celery (including leaves, that can balance any sweetness) and carrots, plus sometimes leaks and mushrooms. Then bay leaf and parsley stalks, whole peppercorns. Garlic or green onons ares only added if I feel it will go with the end recipe (same with other whole herbs). Never brassica or starchy roots/squashes (starch can lead to cloudiness, peels ok)
sleevendog (5a NY 6aNYC NL CA)
3 years ago
Also no to cruciferous vegetables. Only in the final soups occasionally. Even then i blanch/steam and add near plating.

I've not made a pure veg stock since i think 2018. A few family members are Halal and vegetarian. I made a big 'lobster pot' master stock last weekend and need a veg stock this season of holidays. A big veg order arriaves friday. So onion, carrots, celery, leek tops, dried shitaki, a couple frozen garden tomatoes, parsnip, celery root and anything in that category. Sliced fresh ginger, garlic, bay leaves, cardamon, a couple allspice, peppercorns, coriander, celery, cumin seed, half a sheet of kombu. Similar to this recipe, vegetable broth, but not that much tomato at all. Like that recipe, i roast my veg. I just get it going in the oven and add as i'm chopping. (carrots first)

I do chop pretty fine but not a mince--break up those cell walls. Extract that flavor a fast as possible since veg stock i only simmer 4-6 hours. Toast seeds and spices in a dry pot, then add my veg and barely cover with water. Add my heap of un-roasted sliced leek tops, cover and simmer. Veg is so full of water, the leek tops will cook down and be under water in about 20-25 minutes.

One sensitivity might be tomato?. Just leave it out. White miso is pretty mild. Even a tBsp in a 1/2 cup warm water added to soups near plating is barely detectable but great umami.

My sister has endless sensitivities but loves miso. I just need a pint of veg stock for a wild rice/grain vegetarian dressing/stuffing. And a half dozen half pints she will love all week.

(frozen). I don't mind making her and her husband one separate side dish.

One thing i've never cared for for years is tomato soup. Always way too tomato pasty and thick. I cornered a French chef after having a cup of soup/1/2 sandwich/salad lunch a dozen years ago. Did an about face and he said "lots of roasted veg, stock, with a few potatoes". No dairy. Once pureed it was creamy but not thick.

Pre-roasting really brings out the flavor in stocks. I roast all my bones for my master stocks and most of the veg.
Lars
3 years ago
When I use broccoli for vegetable broth, it is because I am making broccoli soup or else I will use the broth to make a velouté sauce for the broccoli. I don't mix broccoli with other vegetables (other than onion and celery), and the same with asparagus.

I do frequently add dehydrated cabbage to Japanese style soups, unless I am adding kelp - I do not add both.

I also like miso soup with broccoli, but I especially like broccoli and soy sauce together and generally also add toasted sesame oil and chili.
l pinkmountain
3 years ago
last modified: 3 years ago
I use Better Than Bouillon. A good vegetarian broth would come from a LOT of roasted vegetables slow cooked and I just would not be willing to buy them and then use them all up for that purpose. I let the BTB company do that for me. Also, I use low salt V8 juice as a supplement to vegetarian soup broths, particularly those that include tomato or something orange like squash or carrot soup. A little splash is good, kind of like how a dash of wine or vinegar can give a soup some "oomph."
sleevendog (5a NY 6aNYC NL CA)
3 years ago
I don't shop just for stocks. 95% veg scraps. Would be in the compost otherwise. If i did not just make a big master stock last weekend using local grass fed beef, chicken, pork bones,i could make a veg stock today. I do have a small chicken stock on the back burner from a roasted chicken we just enjoyed. Veg scraps can be frozen but i just bag mine and make stock often enough i keep a scrap bag in the crisper.

Not for those here that use BTBoulion, but for those lurking that are umfamiliar with ingredient listing...

Serving size is one tsp. That is alot of salt. 3 tsp in one tBsp. Sugars listed twice. Soo that amount is up the list in quantity. Dried potato?--cheap filler and why. Nothing natural about 'natural flavors'. Basically processed food.

Commercial ketchup does the same smoke and mirrors. They list tomato at the top of the ingredient list. That should be the main ingredient but quickly list two different sugars. Possibly sugar is the main ingredient.

Better Than Boulion is crap compared to fresh organic veg stock practically free using scraps.

Chicken stock on the back burner at the moment has some veg root ends like onions and a couple carrots and the last of the celery. Some tiny pinky sized bits of ginger that are hard to grate. Celery root peelings and root end. The bones and chicken back cut out from spatchoking. No frost here yet so getting a local mystery farm box in my holiday order tomorrow. And fresh mushrooms so i'll use the stems in my veg stock this weekend.

Holiday shopping is done. Same order small local turkey and all the veg/root veg for sides.

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