Chinese Vegetable Stock

All good vegetable stocks start with a base of onions, carrots, celery and garlic. From here you can experiment with whatever is hiding in the back of the fridge. I added some radishes and bean sprouts as they were languishing about however you don't want to use vegetables that are rotten and some strong-flavored vegetables, such as cabbage, asparagus, Brussels sprouts, broccoli, and cauliflower can impart strong flavours so you might want to leave those if you need to whip up a quick stock. Read here to check out some good veges to use for your stock.

Ingredients

• 2 tbsp vegetable oil
• 2 red onions, sliced
• large knob of fresh ginger (8-10cm), peeled & thickly sliced
• 10 garlic cloves, crushed
• 1 tbsp salt
• 3 carrots, sliced
• 6 celery sticks, sliced
• bunch spring onions, trimmed & halved
• bunch coriander, stems & roots only, washed & chopped
• 6 litres cold water

Method

1. Heat oil in a large stock pot over high heat. Add onions, ginger, garlic and salt & fry for a couple of minutes. 
2. Add carrots, celery, spring onions and coriander, reduce heat to medium-high and fry, stirring often, for a further 5 minutes or until veges are lightly browned.
3. Add water to pot and bring to boil.
4. Reduce heat to a gentle simmer, skimming the surface with a ladle to remove any impurities. Simmer for 1 hour, skimming as required.
5. Strained stock through fine sieve (lined with muslin if required) and cool. Store in the refrigerator for up to 5 days or in the freezer for 2-3 months.

From Kylie Kwong's Simple Chinese Cooking Class