VEGETABLE STOCK

The organic vegetable stock cubes or granules that are sold in organic stores are very expensive and I have resisted buying them all the while. So it was by such lucky chance that I came across this great blog called Indonesia Eats or The Art and Science of Food by Pepy, Budi Nasution and Co. They had this wonderful recipe for a vegetable broth which they had taken from a magazine called Canadian Living and which they had modified. It looked so good, so golden and rich that I had to try it and save myself some money and avoid chicken stock which has fat in it. Thank you Pepy and Budi!

The combination of shitake mushrooms, celery, carrots and herbs like sage, rosemary and thyme make it a very flavourful broth and I am going to use it for a vegan recipe that I hope to try tomorrow. If it turns out yummy I will be posting it soon otherwise you'll know why I didn't.

In the meantime make this veggie stock and freeze it paper cups, unmould them and throw them in instead when a recipe calls for chicken stock.



The recipe.......

1 cup shitake mushroom, cleaned with a brush
3 each of carrots, onions and celery
1 head of garlic
2 tbsp vegetable oil
sprig of thyme
sprig of rosemary
sage
10 peppercorns, broken
2 or 3 bay leaves
8 cups of water
seasalt

Place musrooms, carrots, onions, celery and garlic on a baking tray. Sprinkle with teh oil and mix well. Roast in the oven at 230 C for 40 minutes until brown.



Fill a pot with 8 cups of water and throw in the roasted veggies and the herbs and peppercorns. Boil and simmer for 40 minutes to an hour until the stock is a deep brown. add sea salt if you like. Or you can crumble in some dried mushrooms for more flavour.

When done strain through a asieve and cool. Store in paper cups in freezer for about 4 months or in the fridge for 4 days.