Chinese Vegetable Stock

Since we're eating leftovers tonight, I guess now is a good time to post about the vegetable stock that I made last week. I completely forgot to do a write up when I made it initially, but I guess it all works out since it gives me something to write about today. The process was a little involved, but I think it'd go a lot smoother if I did it again, since I have all the ingredients on hand now.

Chinese Vegetable Stock
2.3L water
3/4 lbs. carrots, cut into thirds
3 yellow onions, quartered
3/4 lb. green onions, cut into thirds
3/4 lb. button mushrooms, quartered
6 ribs celery, cut into thirds
4 oz. fresh cilantro, very rough chopped
1/4 c. dried red dates (jujubes)
1/6 c. dried goji berries (wolfberries, boxthorn seeds)
4 oz. ginger paste (or fresh ginger, peeled, halved, and lightly smashed)
2 Tbsp. scallion oil
1/2 c. fried scallions (from scallion oil)
2 Tbsp. fried garlic (from garlic oil)
1 Tbsp. salt

First off, if you don't already have scallion oil (and fried scallions and garlic) on hand, you'll have to make some!

Scallion Oil (and Fried Scallions)
1 c. peanut oil
3/4 lb. scallions, very rough chopped

1. Lightly smash the white portions of the scallions.
2. Heat a wok over high heat for 30 seconds. Add the peanut oil followed by the scallions.
3. Once everything is vigorously bubbling, reduce to a simmer, stirring occasionally for 20-30 minutes.
4. Strain the oil through a fine mess and allow to cool. Both oil and scallions will keep in the fridge for several months. (Use a sterilized jar for storing the oil.)

Garlic Oil (and Fried Garlic)
1/2 c. peanut oil
1 head garlic, thinly sliced

1. Heat a wok over high heat for 30 seconds. Add the peanut oil followed by the garlic.
2. Stir and reduce heat to medium.
3. Once everything is nicely bubbling, reduce heat to low, stirring occasionally, for 10 minutes.
4. Strain and store both oil and garlic as for scallion oil.

You begin to see why making this broth was such an involved process! Now I have both types of oil and the fried garlic and scallions on hand, so it'll be much easier in the future!

Now that all the frying and yak-shaving is done, onward to making our actual broth!

1. Soak the dates in very hot water. You'll want to let them sit in the water for at least half an hour, so do this first. Once the half our is up, drain them and add them to the pot.
2. Soak the goji berries in some very hot water. They should only need about 10 minutes of soaking. Once they're done, drain them and add them to the pot as well.
3. Add everything else to the pot! I did this in my crockpot, but it also works in a stock pot on the stove.
4. For the crockpot, I turned it on high for a few hours before switching it to low overnight. If you're doing it on the stove, bring to a boil, then reduce to a simmer for at least 5 hours.

After a night simmering in my crockpot I was rewarded with some of the most delicious, rich-smelling stock I've ever seen! It was glorious! I'm pretty sure this is going to be my go-to vegetable stock recipe for the rest of forever!

In case anyone was wondering, I got this recipe out of Eileen Yin-Fei Lo's Mastering the Art of Chinese Cooking. I halved all the quantities to make it fit in my crockpot (and used a crockpot rather than stove top), but other than that, kept the recipe the same. I'm looking forward to trying her recipe for chicken stock at some point as well, but I had more immediate uses for the vegetable stock for now, so I figured I'd try that one first. Needless to say, I'm very pleased with how this turned out! Om nom nom!