{"id":1647,"date":"2021-01-25T21:49:54","date_gmt":"2021-01-26T01:49:54","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/goddessgrub.com\/blog\/?p=1647"},"modified":"2026-02-08T20:02:48","modified_gmt":"2026-02-09T00:02:48","slug":"im-a-soup-freak-what-i-keep-on-hand-for-them","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/goddessgrub.com\/blog\/im-a-soup-freak-what-i-keep-on-hand-for-them\/","title":{"rendered":"I’m a Soup Freak; what I keep on hand for them"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"\"<\/a>

Peas, carrots, okra, beets, broccoli, cauliflower and tofu in a vinegary chili garlic tamarind hoisin broth<\/p><\/div>\n

I\u2019m not someone who spends a lot of time in the kitchen. (Wait, I wrote this a few years ago, now I’m constantly cooking.<\/em>) Maybe because I worked from home for so long that I got in the habit of eating most of my meals out. I have a handful of favorite dishes I cook and one of my favorite things to cook is soup.\u00a0 Sometimes I’m just looking in the fridge at the leftovers. Sometimes I do this in a structured manner, like deciding on split pea soup and buying just those ingredients, but most often I find myself in the store looking at a juicy stalk of fennel next to a fat leek and the ideas start to flow. If I have no direction in mind, I can just let the fresh vegetables of the day direct me.\u00a0<\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n

<\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n

I love all kinds of soups. I love thick, chunky stews and I love a simple, delicate broth. I like leafy kale soups and hearty root vegetable soups.<\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n

In my past incarnation (in this lifetime), I was a heavy meat eater. Sausage and ham hocks were the first ingredients into every soup! As I turned more health conscious at the turn of the new millennium, I embarked on a mission to discover food alternatives with massive flavor and minimum fat, and big hunks of meat no longer appealed to me.\u00a0<\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n

Now if I want meaty flavor, I’ll add smoked turkey, dried mushroom powder or fish sauce. Yeh, fish sauce sounds gross if you’re not used it it, like anchovy paste, but it imparts a wonderful, deep umami flavor (which is what that luscious mouth feel of a ham hock is.) Do yourself a favor and don’t smell it right from the bottle LOL<\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n

There are a few standard ingredients I always keep on hand.\u00a0<\/span><\/h3>\n

Lee Kum Kee Chicken Bouillon Powde<\/a>r <\/span>(I used to use Better Than Bouillon roasted chicken soup base<\/a>)<\/span><\/strong>
\nPo Lo Ku dried Shiitake Mushroom Seasoning<\/a> (gives umami, contains no msg)
\n3 Crabs brand fish sauce (nuoc mam)<\/a><\/span><\/strong>
\nF<\/span><\/strong>rozen shrimps in the shell
\nFrozen firm fleshed white fish
\n<\/span><\/strong>Frozen potstickers and wontons<\/strong><\/a>
\nFrozen turkey keilbasa<\/strong><\/a>
\nEggs for egg drop soup<\/strong><\/p>\n

My pantry always includes:<\/span><\/h2>\n

MSG <\/a><\/span><\/strong>(A flavor enhancer, I’ve researched it)<\/span>
\n<\/span><\/strong>Canned mushrooms
\nCanned squash for taste
\nCanned beet<\/span>s<\/span><\/strong> for color<\/strong>
\n<\/span>Canned beans, my fave right now are white beans <\/span>for taste and color contrast<\/span>
\n<\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n

Canned tomatoes were the base of my dishes for 40 years, now the acid gets to me. Fresh chopped tomatoes are fine tho, so I keep cherry tomatoes in the freezer.<\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n

I like to keep on hand:<\/span><\/h2>\n

Fresh onions: white, red and Vidalia<\/span><\/strong>
\nFresh garlic in bulbs<\/span><\/strong>
\nA few sweet potatoes<\/span><\/strong>
\nA few white potatoes, or Yukon Gold for flavor<\/span><\/strong>
\nCarrots<\/span><\/strong>
\nCelery<\/span><\/strong>
\nScallions
\n<\/span><\/strong>Fresh basil and rosemary. I eat a lot of fresh basil and rosemary.<\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n

Vegetables I may also include in a soup if I see them fresh are:<\/span><\/h2>\n

Parsnips<\/strong><\/span>
\nFennel<\/strong><\/span>
\nLeeks
\nKale<\/strong><\/span>
\nPeppers: red, yellow and poblano<\/strong><\/span>
\nFresh English peas!<\/strong><\/span>
\nAsparagus<\/strong><\/span>
\nMushrooms<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n

Favorite dried spices include:<\/span><\/h2>\n

Sea salt finely ground<\/span><\/strong>
\nCoarse ground black pepper<\/span><\/strong>
\nGarlic powder<\/span><\/strong>
\nTarragon<\/span><\/strong>
\nThyme
\nBasil
\nCumin<\/span><\/strong>
\nPaprika<\/span><\/strong>
\nCoriander
\nCinnamon<\/span><\/strong>
\nCayenne pepper<\/span><\/strong>
\nOregano<\/span><\/strong>
\nFennel<\/span><\/strong>
\nBay leaves<\/span><\/strong>
\nTurmeric<\/span><\/strong>
\nCinnamon, powder and in sticks<\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n

Favorite dried beans I keep on hand include:<\/span><\/h2>\n

Split peas
\nGarbanzos <\/span><\/strong>(I make a lot of hummus)<\/span>
\nWhite northern beans
\n<\/span><\/strong>White navy beans<\/span><\/strong>
\nLight red kidney beans<\/span><\/strong>
\nPinto beans<\/span><\/strong>
\nButter beans<\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n

HERE ARE ITEMS I KEEP ON HAND FOR QUICK ASIAN RECIPES<\/strong><\/span><\/h1>\n

ITEMS TO BUY AT AN ASIAN MARKET<\/strong><\/span>\u00a0Keep these items on hand and by the time you read the recipes about them a few times, you\u2019ll feel adventuresome enough to make the delicious, classic tom yum soup<\/a>.\u00a0 Here’s a link to another fave Asian inspired soup<\/a>.<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n

Stalks of lemon grass.<\/span>\u00a0\u00a0They may be fresh and may be in the freezer and will be wrapped like scallions. They give high lemon flavor as a soup or tea base, and you remove them before eating as they are coarse and woody.<\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n

Kaffir lime leaves.<\/span> \u00a0<\/span>These will be in the freezer maybe 25-50 to a bag. They give high lemon flavor as a soup or tea base, and you remove them before eating.<\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n

Gangalal.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span>\u00a0This is a form of ginger. It will be in the freezer in a small tray, probably already cut into small pieces. They give sharp ginger flavor as a soup or tea base, and you remove them before eating.<\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n

Chilies or chili peppers.<\/span>\u00a0\u00a0These will be in the freezer in small bags. Most of them are too hot for me; you have to find your own comfort level. I sometimes pop a whole chili in a soup and then take it out and discard it. I do not cut it open. That gives enough heat for me. Remember the high heat is in the seeds, so after handling them wash your hands.<\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n

Fish sauce nuoc mam.<\/span> \u00a0\u00a0I use the 3 Crabs brand. A little goes a long way. High flavor, smells hmmm fishy<\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n

Chili garlic sauce.\u00a0<\/span> \u00a0in a jar on the shelf.\u00a0It is hotter than Sriracha sauce.<\/em><\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n

Sriracha hot sauce. <\/span>In a tall bottle on the shelf,\u00a0 mine has a red rooster on the bottle.\u00a0It is milder than chili garlic sauce.<\/em><\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n

Nam Prik Pao or\u00a0Tom Yum Soup paste.<\/span>\u00a0 In jars on the shelf. Try different brands.<\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n

Sesame Oil.\u00a0<\/span> \u00a0Usually not cooked, but added into hot soups and dressings before serving.<\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n

Bunches of fresh basil or cilantro. <\/span>Rinse before last minute adding to soups. I don’t care for cilantro myself, but love sweet basil, holy basil, Thai basil, lemon basil.<\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n

Scallions<\/span>\u00a0find them in the refrigerator. Rinse before last minute adding to soups.<\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

RELATED:<\/strong> Visit<\/span> Goddess Grub Blog<\/a>, Luscious Low Fat Meals for the Goddess on the Go<\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

I\u2019m not someone who spends a lot of time in the kitchen. (Wait, I wrote this a few years ago, now I’m constantly cooking.) Maybe because I worked from home for so long that I got in the habit of eating most of my meals out. I have a handful of favorite dishes I cook […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1647","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p5vW9k-qz","_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/goddessgrub.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1647","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/goddessgrub.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/goddessgrub.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/goddessgrub.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/goddessgrub.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1647"}],"version-history":[{"count":7,"href":"http:\/\/goddessgrub.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1647\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1987,"href":"http:\/\/goddessgrub.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1647\/revisions\/1987"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/goddessgrub.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1647"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/goddessgrub.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1647"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/goddessgrub.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1647"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}