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The Seaweed Soup My Dad's Made 100,000 Times

紫菜湯
Prep: 10 minCook: 20 minTotal: 30 minServes: 6

Ingredients

0.50 ozdried seaweed
0.50 ozdried shrimp
2 egg
6 oznapa cabbage
5 ozpork
Pork Marinade
0.50 tspsalt
1 tspcornstarch
1 tbspwater
Soup Ingredients
1 tbspoil
14 ozchicken broth
6 cupwater
1 tspsalt
0.50 tspsesame oil
1 tspfish sauce
1 dashwhite pepper

Instructions

1
Prepare dried ingredients

Start by rinsing the dried seaweed (0.50 oz). These days, dried seaweed tends to be very clean, but if your seaweed has a lot of sand and residue, that will come off with a few more rinses, and will sink to the bottom during the soak.

Then we need to soak the seaweed for around 10 minutes. It's fine if it ends up sitting in the water for longer than that, because it'll be cooking in a big pot of soup anyway.

Wash the dried shrimp (0.50 oz) twice to make sure they're clean, and rehydrate them by soaking in a small bowl of hot water for 5 minutes.

2
Prepare eggs & cabbage

Crack the eggs into a bowl so they'll be ready for later.

We'll cut the napa cabbage (6 oz) into manageable bites. Make two length-wise cuts, and then chop into pieces about 1-2 inches wide. The stem pieces should be smaller than the leafy pieces to account for cooking time.

3
Cut & marinate pork

You can slice the lean pork (5 oz) into any shape you like. For this recipe, we're cutting it into strips by slicing first, and then laying them down to cut strips. Besides strips, you can also do big slices or even mince the pork.

Put the pork in a bowl.

Then, we'll make the marinade for the pork with salt (0.50 tsp), cornstarch (1 tsp), and water (1 tbsp). A handy technique is to mix the marinade ingredients to the side of the bowl that the pork's in, smoothing out any clumps there, and then stirring it into the pork.

This way, the marinade is smooth and easy to incorporate, and you don't have a separate marinade-making dish to clean later!

4
Stir-fry dried shrimp

With a soup pot on the stove, turn the heat on high. Add oil (1 tbsp) to the pot. It should heat up rather quickly.

Put the rehydrated dried shrimp in, making sure to save the soaking liquid, and cook for 50-60 seconds. The shrimp flavor will bloom and flavor the oil, and you'll be able to smell it.

5
Add chicken broth & water

Add chicken broth (14 oz) to the pot of soup, as well as the shrimp soaking liquid that we saved earlier. The liquid will add an extra little layer of shrimp flavor to the soup. Then add water (6 cup) and put the lid on the pot.

6
Add ingredients to soup

When the soup comes to a boil, remove the lid, and add the napa cabbage. Place the lid back on, and continue to cook on high heat. We need to wait for the soup to come back to a boil, which should take about 1.5 minutes.

Once the soup is boiling again, remove the lid, drain the rehydrated seaweed, and add it to the soup.

Add the marinated pork as well. Make sure to stir as the pork goes in, so that they cook evenly without sticking together.

We're going to add the eggs next, but to make sure the soup doesn't boil over while we're working, turn the heat down to medium.

Beat the eggs, and slowly pour the beaten eggs in while stirring the soup to create smooth wisps of silky egg. Then, turn the heat back up to high.

7
Add final seasonings

It's time to season the soup. Start with salt (1 tsp). It's not a lot, but you can always add more salt at the end if it's needed. Then add sesame oil (0.50 tsp), fish sauce (1 tsp), and white pepper (1 dash).

8
Taste test & plate

Finally, taste to adjust the flavors of the soup to your liking! This is usually served in a large serving bowl at the center of the table. Everyone can take the amount they want in smaller individual bowls.

Recipe by Daddy Lau · 2× James Beard Award Winner · madewithlau.com

The Seaweed Soup My Dad's Made 100,000 Times

紫菜湯
▶ 278.4K views on YouTube
👍 5.4K likes
Prep
10 min
Cook
20 min
Total
30 min
Serves
6
Daddy Lau
By Daddy Lau · 2x James Beard Awards · 60+ years
Published Dec 2021 · Updated Nov 2024

Why this recipe

The story
Seaweed Soup (紫菜湯) — Daddy Lau
Daddy Lau

Most seaweed soup recipes online are tested only a handful of times. My dad used to make this dish multiple times a day, every day, for 60+ years and can make this in his sleep.

I know you'll love it as much as our community does! This recipe has over 278.4K views, 5.4K likes on YouTube.

Seaweed Soup is an incredible Cantonese dish, not only because it's a staple of the cuisine and so good for your body, but also because of the way it can be easily adapted to include whatever ingredients are available.

My parents ate this a lot back in China, and we also ate it growing up. Each generation's seaweed soup may have had different ingredients and additions, but every iteration was still definitively, deliciously, heartwarmingly seaweed soup.

The versatility of this soup makes for a robust recipe, adaptable to whatever is local and available to you. I'm excited for you to make it your own!

Ingredients

Serves6
Understanding Flavor
FUNDAMENTALS
Understanding Flavor
Dive Deeper →
Main Ingredients
0.50 ozdried seaweed
0.50 ozdried shrimp
2 egg
6 oznapa cabbage
5 ozpork
Pork Marinade
0.50 tspsalt
1 tspcornstarch
1 tbspwater
Soup Ingredients
1 tbspoil
14 ozchicken broth
6 cupwater
1 tspsalt
0.50 tspsesame oil
1 tspfish sauce
1 dashwhite pepper

Instructions

8 steps · click any step to scrub ↑
1

Prepare dried ingredients

scroll to play this step

Start by rinsing the dried seaweed (0.50 oz). These days, dried seaweed tends to be very clean, but if your seaweed has a lot of sand and residue, that will come off with a few more rinses, and will sink to the bottom during the soak.

Then we need to soak the seaweed for around 10 minutes. It's fine if it ends up sitting in the water for longer than that, because it'll be cooking in a big pot of soup anyway.

Wash the dried shrimp (0.50 oz) twice to make sure they're clean, and rehydrate them by soaking in a small bowl of hot water for 5 minutes.

The 10 Essential Cutting Techniques
LESSON 3.3
The 10 Essential Cutting Techniques
Dive Deeper →
2

Prepare eggs & cabbage

scroll to play this step

Crack the eggs into a bowl so they'll be ready for later.

We'll cut the napa cabbage (6 oz) into manageable bites. Make two length-wise cuts, and then chop into pieces about 1-2 inches wide. The stem pieces should be smaller than the leafy pieces to account for cooking time.

3

Cut & marinate pork

scroll to play this step

You can slice the lean pork (5 oz) into any shape you like. For this recipe, we're cutting it into strips by slicing first, and then laying them down to cut strips. Besides strips, you can also do big slices or even mince the pork.

Put the pork in a bowl.

Then, we'll make the marinade for the pork with salt (0.50 tsp), cornstarch (1 tsp), and water (1 tbsp). A handy technique is to mix the marinade ingredients to the side of the bowl that the pork's in, smoothing out any clumps there, and then stirring it into the pork.

This way, the marinade is smooth and easy to incorporate, and you don't have a separate marinade-making dish to clean later!

4

Stir-fry dried shrimp

scroll to play this step

With a soup pot on the stove, turn the heat on high. Add oil (1 tbsp) to the pot. It should heat up rather quickly.

Put the rehydrated dried shrimp in, making sure to save the soaking liquid, and cook for 50-60 seconds. The shrimp flavor will bloom and flavor the oil, and you'll be able to smell it.

5

Add chicken broth & water

scroll to play this step

Add chicken broth (14 oz) to the pot of soup, as well as the shrimp soaking liquid that we saved earlier. The liquid will add an extra little layer of shrimp flavor to the soup. Then add water (6 cup) and put the lid on the pot.

6

Add ingredients to soup

scroll to play this step

When the soup comes to a boil, remove the lid, and add the napa cabbage. Place the lid back on, and continue to cook on high heat. We need to wait for the soup to come back to a boil, which should take about 1.5 minutes.

Once the soup is boiling again, remove the lid, drain the rehydrated seaweed, and add it to the soup.

Add the marinated pork as well. Make sure to stir as the pork goes in, so that they cook evenly without sticking together.

We're going to add the eggs next, but to make sure the soup doesn't boil over while we're working, turn the heat down to medium.

Beat the eggs, and slowly pour the beaten eggs in while stirring the soup to create smooth wisps of silky egg. Then, turn the heat back up to high.

7

Add final seasonings

scroll to play this step

It's time to season the soup. Start with salt (1 tsp). It's not a lot, but you can always add more salt at the end if it's needed. Then add sesame oil (0.50 tsp), fish sauce (1 tsp), and white pepper (1 dash).

8

Taste test & plate

scroll to play this step

Finally, taste to adjust the flavors of the soup to your liking! This is usually served in a large serving bowl at the center of the table. Everyone can take the amount they want in smaller individual bowls.

劉
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The Lau Family

We started Made With Lau to celebrate Cantonese culture and honor the legacy of our wonderful parents, Jenny and Chung Sun Lau.

Our hope is that these recipes and stories help you spread the joy, love, and nostalgia that I felt growing up.

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