Kale and asparagus Asian broth with spelt
This Asian broth was a bit of an experiment for me. I tend to be more a fan of thick and creamy soups, but I thought that a creamy soup would be too heavy when dealing with Asian flavours (cream of soy sauce soup? Umm…) – so, Asian broth it was.
You wouldn’t believe how simple this kale and asparagus broth was to make. Well, you probably would, because it’s just about as easy as it looks – some yummy bits, floating in a tasty broth. Make sure you start with a good quality vegetable stock, since let’s face it, about 90% of this soup is just stock. Infuse it with garlic, ginger and chilli, and add some soy sauce, some spelt (for a little bit of bulk!), and your veg.
Then it’s just a case of garnishing your soup (sorry, here I go again with the garnish) with some spring onions and fresh coriander, and serving it up warm.
You can change up this soup however you like, if you have other things in your fridge to use up or just fancy something a bit different. The veg I used were asparagus and kale, because they’re some of my favourite vegetables ever, but most greens would work. You might want to go for a cabbage that’s a bit more Asian, like pak choi, rather than the kale – what can I say, I just love kale.
You could even throw in a few chunks of silken tofu if you want to make this light broth a bit more dinnery.
Oh, a quick word of warning: go easy on the chilli! I used 4 thin slices of chilli, and my broth was verging on too spicy for me, even though I didn’t even eat the chillies themselves (they still give plenty of heat to the broth). Obviously this will depend on the exact type of chilli you use, but maybe start with just a couple of small slices, and adjust the heat from there.
By the way, I know I’ve included some chopsticks in my photos, but I’m going to call that ‘artistic license’ – if you can actually eat broth with chopsticks I will be thoroughly impressed, and will probably fly you over here to teach me, since I can’t even use them for solid foods (yes, I’m that annoying person who asks for a fork at a Chinese restaurant. I don’t like battling with my food!).
Asian-style kale and asparagus broth with spelt
Ingredients
- 500 ml good quality vegetable stock ~2 cups
- 1 tbsp soy sauce
- 1/2 tsp fresh ginger grated
- 1 clove garlic minced
- 1 small mild chilli thinly sliced
- 5 stalks asparagus
- Small handful kale
- 100 g cooked spelt ~2/3 cup
- Black pepper
- 1 spring onion sliced
- Small bunch fresh coriander cilantro, chopped
Instructions
- Add the vegetable stock and soy sauce to a deep frying pan, and add the grated ginger, minced garlic and 2-3 slices of chilli (depending on your preferred level of heat). Heat gently for about 5 minutes.
- Trim the ends off the asparagus, and remove any tough stems from the kale. Cut each vegetable to your desired size.
- Add the vegetables to the broth, along with the cooked spelt and plenty of black pepper. Continue to cook gently for a further 5 minutes.
- Serve warm, garnished with spring onions and fresh coriander.
Love fragrant Asian soups? Try my Thai green curry noodle soup:
That looks soooo good Becca, love addition of kale here… Growing up in Poland broth is something we often make but it took my husband a while to get convinced to watery soups, which as sooo good and healthy! :)
I’m not usually into brothy soups but I really, really enjoyed this one! I think I’m a convert!
I really love simple broths like this that are so easily customizable.
Growing up every time I was sick all I wanted was wonton soup but just the broth, no noodles. Not a normal child, obviously, because most would want chicken noodle soup. Not me. This is speaking to my asian-broth-loving soul!
Haha I think as a kid I would have wanted just the noodles, no broth! Love me some carbs ;)
This is lovely! So simple and flavorful! And no….cream of soy sauce soup does not sound good ;)
Love the addition of spelt, too!
Haha! It was never actually on my list of things to make, don’t worry!! ;)
I often crave clean, light broths such as this. Your one here has everything I like, and I think I have everything to hand, so this might just be put together in, say, the next half hour! Delish!
Ooh enjoy Kellie!! :)
Love all the flavors in this broth !
What a deliciously looking broth! It must be very warming with a chilli kick :)
Mmm such lovely flavours here – pinned to try later!
Oh wow, I love this type of soup, I could have it every day, in fact, in my last publishing role, whilst going through a company restructure for 2 months I lived on vegetable pho. Just fabulous. Well as soon as we’ve finished the homity bites, we’ll be good and drink some of this healthy goodness to balance things out !
Haha yes, you do that! Hope you enjoyed the homity pie bites :)
What is cooked spelt?
Spelt is a type of wheat! You could use barley, rice etc if you prefer.
Thx Becca
I knew spelt is a flour, but didn’t know what ‘cooked’ spelt was. So u just add measured amount of spelt?
Oh no, not spelt flour!! Just the whole grain. You can buy it pre-cooked in sachets, or dried in bags, near the lentils, quinoa, etc.
Oh! I didn’t know that. I recently bought some spelt flour to make bread so jumped to the conclusion u meant flour. Thx for clarifying :-)
That looks delicious and perfect for the time of year.
That looks lovely and fresh, definitely time for lighter soups for spring.
It looks delicious and flavorful! And I LOVE kale :)
This really sounds very nice.
Bookmarking so I can make it in the future.
I loved this! I focus on beauty/lifestyle blogs so it’s really refreshing to read through different kind of blogs :) x
I’m a broth-based soup lover and this is my kind of recipe. I can’t wait to try this.
I usually lean towards creamy soups but I really enjoyed this! :)