This post is a part of Sprig & Vine’s month of wellness 2019: expect Good Food Good Vibes all January long! We will be posting content throughout January that will help you kickstart the year feeling well and good, with healthy eating hacks, feel-good recipes, and tons of wellness inspiration.
Bone broth is all the rage these days. This meaty elixir is a product of ancient Chinese tradition and Eastern medicine; but recently this food has become a trend much like green juice, matcha, or turmeric milk. Collagen-rich, nutrient dense, and full of amino acids, bone broth is what everyone in the health circles (vegan or not) is turning to these days. Of course, being vegetarian, I didn’t want to cook with bones nor sample a traditional bone broth. But, I did like the idea of coming up with an equally nutrient-dense, mineral rich umami broth that has all the good stuff.
While a vegan “bone” broth might be a misnomer — this alternative is built with plant-based ingredients that boast of the same anti-inflammatory, gut-healing, antioxidant-boosting, joint-healing properties — without the bones.
This vegan bone broth is made from a combination of vegetables, mushrooms, seaweed, herbs, and aromatics. It results in a broth that is dense and robust, with a delicious flavour that is comforting and healing. This is the perfect recipe to have in your arsenal when you just want to curl up with something warm, or give your system a reset after falling off the wagon too many times.
The recipe is fairly simple, though the ingredient list is a bit lengthy. It might be tempting to buy readymade broth from the store, but the packaged broths are always full of sodium and with not much else. With this recipe, the idea is to pack immense amount of flavour into the broth, as well as get the maximum number of nutritional benefits.
Mushrooms
I used both fresh mushrooms and dried shiitake mushrooms. Shiitake mushrooms (dried or fresh) contain numerous amino acids, vitamins, and minerals that are great for nourishing the gut and boosting the immune system. Mushrooms also give the broth its distinctive umami flavour. It’s totally worth it to make that trip to a speciality grocery store just for them.
Seaweed
As for seaweed: use dried kombu, wakame, or even nori — whatever’s easily available for you. Just one sheet of dried seaweed, or a handful of wakame adds a host of minerals and other collagen-boosting nutrients to the broth. It’s rich in B vitamins and is an incredible natural source of Iodine. Seaweed also contains collagen-boosting properties; essential when you’re making a vegan version that doesn’t contain the same amount of collagen as one with bones. It also gives the broth a “sea” flavour without any fish sauce.
Anti-Inflammatory Flavour Enhancers
I added whole black peppercorns, ginger, and turmeric that give the broth anti-inflammatory properties; along with leafy greens and herbs. You can also add in kitchen veggie trimmings and peels to eliminate kitchen waste.
As the broth simmers, all the vitamins and minerals are released into the water, and a long cooking time ensures the flavours meld together. My pro tip: make double the recipe, because it’s so good it’ll go fast. Though you start with a large amount of water, you lose a lot of the liquid as it simmers away. You’ll want to make a big batch and keep this stored in the fridge.
I love sipping on the broth as it is, seasoned with some salt, lime juice and a pinch of chilli to spice it up. Add some fresh herbs and/or choice of oil. You can use the broth as a base for making other soups and stews too. Because of the robust flavours, this also makes a great base for a brothy noodle bowl — just add cooked noodles, tofu, veggies and herbs!
- 1 head of garlic
- 4 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil
- 2 inch nugget of ginger, sliced
- 1 medium onion, quartered
- 1 carrot, roughly chopped
- 2 stalks celery, chopped + greens kept separately
- 1 leek, roughly chopped
- 1 cup button or cremini mushrooms, halved
- ½ cup dried shiitake mushrooms
- A few pieces dried seaweed (kombu, wakame, or nori)
- 2 bay leaves
- ½ teaspoon whole black peppercorns
- A small piece of turmeric root (optional)
- 1 large handful parsley
- 1 large handful coriander leaves and stems
- Salt, lime juice, red chilli flakes to taste
- Slice the head of garlic crosswise. Keep half aside; separate cloves from remaining half, peel and roughly chop.
- In a large deep-bottomed pan, heat olive oil over medium-low heat. Add the chopped garlic and cook for a couple of minutes, until lightly browned and fragrant. Place ginger, onion, carrot, celery stalks, and leek in the pan and sauté for 5-8 minutes.
- Add 12 cups water along with the half head of garlic, mushrooms, dried shiitake mushrooms, seaweed (if using), bay leaves, black pepper, and turmeric and bring to a boil.
- Reduce to a simmer and add in the herbs: celery leaves, parsley, and coriander. Let the broth simmer for about 30 minutes, or until reduced by half.
- Season generously with salt and lime juice. Use a slotted spoon to fish out herbs and veggies, and then strain the broth through a fine mesh sieve into a clean pot.
- Divide broth into bowls or mugs. Season with some red chilli flakes if desired. Sip as it is, or add in cooked noodles, tofu, veggies and herbs (mushrooms, bok choy, scallions, coriander etc) to make a noodle bowl. You can also use the broth as a base for other soup recipes.
If you liked this recipe, you might also like this Asian style Spicy Broth.
Did you make this recipe?
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