THE BEST SHITAKE MUSHROOM LAKSA SOUP RECIPE FROM THE MEDICINE ROOM

Deconstructed Shitake Vegan Laksa is true food as medicine.

We had so much fun at our Medicinal Mushroom Long Table Wellness Day in June. I know that only a very few lucky medicine room families could come. We only had 12 places available and there were thousands of you there online and watching our work. So I thought it would be nice to share this recipe with you.

This pic is some of our guests serving lunch. As you see there are lots of options for the toppings.

Lets talk the base first!

Firstly I want to say that a true decoction in Chinese medicine practice is to slow simmer the roots, barks, seeds and stems of plants for a few hours. Sometimes longer. So what I did as the base of this delicious soup:

400 grams of dried turmeric chips
100 grams of dried ginger chips and boil it with 6 litres of water
2 tablespoons salt
8 cloves of garlic
3 star anise
10 pods cardamom
A big tablespoon of good quality garam masala

We simmered this for three hours, as the liquid quantity decreased we kept adding hot water and topping it up, reducing it again at the end. We had 2.5 litres of a very rich and potent decoction. Now we were ready to make the soup!

This base got cooked again with some other ingredients. What we did is make the base into a delicious soup with the shitake and then cook all other vegetables so that they were ready in little bowls for people to make their own soup at the table! It’s fun and gives people many options for their meals. You simply add a couple of scoops of the liquid soup to the bowl and everyone adds the rest!

1. Take your base and make sure you strain off the herbs so that you are only left with the 2.5 litres of potent stock decoction base! Add it to the heat again with 250 grams of dried shitake mushrooms and one can of coconut cream or 100 grams of pure coconut powder. Bring to the boil and simmer for a few minutes. Have it hot and ready to go when all the other ingredients are ready.

Now get the rest ready and serve it all up at once.

2. We roasted pumpkin and onion in olive oil in 1 inch pieces. 1/2 pumpkin is a good amount to feed 14 people!

3. We sliced lots of greens like beans, bok choy and celery. This was steamed to be ready when the soup was ready.

4. We roasted 500 grams of button mushrooms with 500 grams oyster mushrooms in olive oil and some sea salt.

5. We sliced capsicums, fresh herbs, red onions, fresh greens and whatever else you like to pop in your bowl of deliciousness.

6. We had sides of chilli and spices. You can add nuts, seeds, super foods and whatever else you want.

Time to serve. Super simple and delicious.

The health benefits of this winter soup are too many to describe in one blog. The Shitake mushroom is full of immune-boosting properties and works as an antioxidant, as do most of the vegetables added. Turmeric and ginger are antimicrobial and also anti-inflammatory. Really good spices and garlic, etc are just pure wintertime medicines, helping the body recover, regenerate and fight off any pending ailments.