Yes, I have a thing for soups, as you can see here, here, and here, and I’m not sorry about it.
This soup is inspired by a Vietnamese dish called “Mì vịt tiềm”, which is traditionally a duck soup that is flavored with soy sauce, ginger, five-spice, and mushrooms. Here, I went with tofu as the main protein source and a flavorful and aromatic vegetable broth. This rich and fragrant soup will definitely warm you up!
It starts with the broth that literally takes 10 minutes to prepare. You fill a pot with water and then add the vegetables: onion, carrot, white radish, and corn for more sweetness. Let simmer for 45 minutes to give the broth a rich flavor.
Next, it’s time to add the aromatics. We have mushrooms that bring umami, anis, and cinnamon to give the broth an authentic flavor and some five-spice powder. To season, I went with soy sauce as well as coconut sugar for a subtle sweetness.
Now onto the tofu! It is marinated in a simple combination of soy sauce, ginger, coconut sugar, and sriracha if you want some heat.
For the add-ins, we have sautéed Pak Choy (feel free to use your favorite greens), noodles, fried shallots, and freshly chopped cilantro for extra flavor.
This noodle soup is very aromatic and has a wonderful smell. It’s easy, warming, and makes the perfect weeknight dinner!
For more Vietnamese-inspired recipes, check out this Stuffed Tofu in Spicy Tomato Sauce, Vegan Banh Xeo, or this Vegan Bun Bo Hue.
Let me know in the comments if you try this recipe!
Five-Spice Tofu Noodle Soup
Ingredients
Broth
- 6 cups of water
- 1 medium white radish daikon
- 1 carrot
- 1 medium onion
- 1 ear of corn
- 1 tbsp soy sauce
- 2 tsp coconut sugar or regular sugar
- 1/2 tsp salt
- 4 dried shiitakes
- 2 whole anis
- 1 cinnamon bark
- 1/4 tsp five-spice powder
Tofu
- 1 block firm tofu (about 250g)
- 1 tbsp soy sauce
- 1- inch ginger finely minced
- 1 tsp 5ml oil
- 1 tsp coconut sugar
- 1/4 tsp five-spice powder
- 1/2 tsp sriracha optional
Add-ins
- 7 ounces dry noodles
- 2 pak choy or your favorite greens
- fresh cilantro fried shallots
Instructions
- Start by preparing the vegetables: peel and cut the radish and carrot into 1-inch thick slices. Peel the onion and cut it into quarters. Wash the corn and cut it into 1-inch thick slices as well.
- Pour 6 cups of water in a large pot. Add the vegetables and bring to a boil. Lower to a simmer, cover, and let simmer for about 45 minutes.
- In the meantime, prepare the tofu. Pat it dry and press it between sheets of kitchen paper towel to remove excess moisture. Cut the tofu into thick slices (or cubes) and transfer to a large dish or bowl. Add the soy sauce, minced ginger, oil, sugar, and five-spice powder. Stir to coat the tofu with the marinade. Let it marinate at least 30 minutes. Before serving, heat about one tablespoon of oil in a large skillet. Once hot, add the tofu with the marinade and sautée for 5-8 minutes, or until golden brown, flipping regularly to cook it on each side.
- After 45 minutes, add the soy sauce, coconut sugar, salt, dried shiitakes, anis, cinnamon, and five-spice to the pot. Let it simmer for another 15 minutes. Next, discard the whole spices as well as the corn. The broth is now ready, remove from heat and cover to keep hot.
- Cook the noodles according to the package instructions, and sautée your vegetables.
- Divide the cooked noodles between three serving bowls, top with the greens, sautéed tofu, and pour the hot broth over it. Serve immediately topped with fresh cilantro and fried shallot.
This looks incredible
Hello Thomas, a couple of questions for you:
– when you “discard the whole spices”, do you also discard onions/carrots/daikon?
– most vietnamese soup recipes I’ve seen, vegan or not, include premade base stock. I understand step 2 is effectively creating this for you, but it seems a bit thin — and you have your onion peeled, neither charred nor sauteed in oil… Is the very light fat-free broth the intention?
Thanks!
Hello Andrei,
It’s a personal choice, personally I don’t discard the onions/carrots/daikon and serve them with the soup.
It really depends on the soup, some like pho have spices and aromatics charred before. For this one, I chose to go with a light broth, yet a quite flavorful one so in my opinion, it doesn’t need to be more fatty.
Made this tonight. Super tasty! I added some bean curd noodles and gai lan. Unfortunately, my tofu ended up being a weird texture so it wasn’t that great. The broth was delicious! First time my broth has ever worked out without adding some sort of stock.
Hi Soda,
Did you use fried tofu? Glad you liked the broth though!
Delicious! I think I will make this tofu as a regular dish now, it was also really good the next day. For the soup I couldn’t find dried shiitake but got some fresh ones and fried them first. The daikon I got is huge so now need to find something to do with the rest of it!
Awesome! Thanks for your feedback 🙂
Hi Thomas, I’m not sure how I ended up on your blog today, but I was so pleased, ever since I fell in love with your “Almond Butter” recipe. I have now spent the past 2 hrs reviewing your recipes, etc. I found some inspiration that I was looking for. I just remembered that it was the fermented tofu that brought me back to you. So I now have at least 30 new recipes that will go into my designated “THOMAS” binder. Wish me luck on my “Tofu” mission. I will provide feedback. Noodle Soup recipes use “dry noodles”, What is your go to choice?
Thank you
Hi Dana,
Thanks for your kind words! Good luck with the fermented tofu 🙂
Regarding the noodles, I buy them at the Asian store but I cannot give you more information as it’s written in Chinese and there is only written “Dried noodles” 🙂