Winter hit us hard this year, unexpectedly. The arctic freeze has now put us into a few days of freezing temperatures – a phenomenon rarely seen in Texas. I would have never imagined myself having to dust off and take out my thick winter coats from my college days in Utah. It’s truly fascinating and incredibly scary at the same time to experience some of these extreme climate changes. Secretly though – I would much prefer colder winter than the humid/hot summers in Houston. I get to wear socks around the house, wrap up in warm blankets on my couch for movie nights and enjoy some of our favorite comfort foods at home including hotpot, spicy korean soups, vegan broccoli and cheese soup (on our blog), curries and much more.
Perhaps one of my favorite childhood soups was a good ole’ creamy, cream of mushroom soup. It seems to be one of those western favorites in Asia that you get a fancy restaurants. We also use to enjoy it right out of the can – the Campbells version. It was affordable, delicious and just something new, something different, something that really felt “westernized”. The rich and creamy umami soup was absolutely heavenly even with bread or as a base for pasta sauce. Something about it was just so addicting and is perhaps one of most popular “soups” in the Hong Kong. 
It’s been a good while since I’ve enjoyed a good soup like that and definitely much harder to find a plant based version of. I had thought of making a rendition of this recipe for many years but just never got around to it. I was skeptical of many recipes out there using coconut milk but once I tried I was hooked! The coconut milk flavor isn’t too strong, especially since we opted for the “lite” kind. You can definitely use a thick coconut milk which would make this even creamier, but I do think there is beauty to this lighter version that really puts emphasis on the umami and earthy flavor of the sautéed mushrooms.
It’s a really simple recipe, one that you probably have ingredients for already. I personally love blending only half of the mixture for some texture. It is absolutely perfect when served with freshly cracked pepper, drizzle of olive oil and yogurt. You can definitely use butter in the base if you fancy – to make it extra fragrance!
- 1 tbsp olive oil
- 1 lb of button mushrooms
- 1 onions, diced
- 6 cloves of garlic
- 1.5 tbsp lite soy sauce
- ¾ tsp salt
- 1 tsp oregano and thyme each
- Freshly cracked black pepper
- 1 can lite coconut milk
- 1 tbsp nutritional yeast
- Black pepper
- Dice up the mushrooms and onions and set aside. Finely mince the garlic.
- Heat a pan and add olive oil. Saute onion until soft and tender (6 minutes). You can add a little water if needed.
- Add in chopped mushrooms, garlic, along with salt and soy sauce.
- Continue to sauté until the mushrooms is soft and released its water. You want to cook this long enough over medium low heat until most of the water is evaporated to maximize flavor. This will take about 15 mins.
- Add in coconut milk, nutritional yeast. Bring the soup up to boil and then turn down to simmer for another 10-15 minutes.
- Sccop half the mixture into a blender and blend until smooth. Pour it back with into the pan and mix.
- Serve with some olive oil, freshly cracked black pepper, thyme/parsley and some warm bread!
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