Homemade vegetable broth

Ingredients for 1 servings:

• 50 g mushrooms (Chinese black mushrooms), dried
• 1 kg carrot(s), peeled
• 4 stalk(s) celery
• 1 kg onion(s)
• 1 kg radish(s) (Chinese white), peeled
• 4 stalk(s) leeks
• 225 g shallot(s)
• 225 g cucumber(s), peeled and pitted
• 1 kg tomatoes, washed and halved
• 6 spring onions
• 6 slice(s) fresh ginger
• 10 cloves garlic, unpeeled and crushed
• 2 tbsp black peppercorns
• 1 tbsp pepper (Sichuan pepper), to taste
• 2 tbsp salt
• 2 ¾ liters of water
• 3 tbsp soy sauce, light

Instructions

Working time approx. 30 minutes; Rest time approx. 2 hours; Total time approx. 2 hours 30 minutes

Asian style

Makes approx. 2.75 liters Soak the dried mushrooms in warm water for 20 minutes. Drain and reserve the liquid. Then squeeze out all the liquid and reserve this too. Roughly chop the caps and stems. Strain the mushroom liquid and set aside. Roughly chop the carrots, celery, onion and white radish. Remove the leek greens, wash the leek and roughly chop the white part. Peel the shallots but leave whole. Roughly chop the cucumber and tomato. Preheat the oven to 220°C. Place the spring onions, ginger, garlic, shallots, mushrooms, carrots, celery, onion, white radish and leek on a baking tray and let the vegetables brown for 20 minutes. Transfer the vegetables from the baking tray to a large saucepan. Add the peppercorns, salt, water, mushroom liquid and light soy sauce. Cover the mixture and bring to a simmer. Skim off any foam that settles on the surface with a large, flat spoon for 10-20 minutes. Bring the broth to a simmer briefly, then reduce the heat and simmer gently for about 2 hours. Strain the broth through a coarse sieve, then a fine-mesh sieve, and let it cool completely. It can now be used or frozen for later use. If the amount is too large, you can simply halve the quantities.