Feel better soup

I keep hearing a rumor some nasty cold has been making its rounds. Sure enough, as soon as that rumor hit my ears, I woke up this morning in sneezy/cold mode. Ugh! I've decided to devote my day to copious amounts of green tea, and soup. I had a daikon radish in my fridge, which I usually use for miso soup, but honestly, I'm starting to tire of the taste of miso. I wanted something more "clear" tasting, if you know what I mean. Less salty with more of the essence of the daikon.

One of my favorite YT cooking channels is Maangchi. She's been my go-to for many Korean dishes, and I had a feeling she'd have something posted in the realm of daikon radish and soup. Sure enough, she did. I checked out her video (shown below), as a jump off point in making my own version (pictured above). I often include ground turmeric in my dishes, for their proposed health benefits, and decided to add it to my soup, in the hopes of boosting its healing power.

Note: With the exception of the black salt, all ingredients can be found at your local Asian grocer, or a market with an Asian section. The black salt can be found at grocers carrying Indian ingredients.

Feel Better Daikon Radish Soup
- 3 cups water
- 1 cup green tea
- 1 1/2 cups daikon radish, cut into equivalent of large dice or triangle wedge slices
- 2 thumb-size rectangles of dried kombu kelp, cut into thin strips
- 1/4 wedge of onion, chopped
- 3 Tbs. fish sauce, or to taste
- 5-6 cloves of garlic, minced
- 6 oz. turkey (I used leftover roast turkey, but you can use any kind of protein you like, or shiitake mushrooms.)
- 1 Tbs. ground turmeric
- salt to taste (I used black salt, or kala namak, since it's very "mineraly" in flavor, and not as harsh as regular table salt)
- 2 Tbs. dried wakame seaweed
- 1 1/2 stalks of scallion, chopped
- Squeeze of lemon (optional)

Add the chopped daikon radish and kombu strips to the water & green tea. Bring to a boil, then immediately lower heat to a simmer. When the radish starts to look clear around the edges, but still white in their centers, add the chopped onions. Simmer till radish just becomes translucent.

Add fish sauce, minced garlic, protein (in my case, the turkey), ground turmeric, and salt to taste. Note: you do not want this to be a salty soup, so please go easy on the salt flavor. You should be able to eat this straight, without rice.

When the soup heats up to a gentle simmer again, add the dried wakame seaweed & chopped scallion, and cook for about 2-4 minutes till the seaweed expands. Serve immediately, topped with a squeeze of lemon.

Here's Maangchi's episode on her beef & radish soup. Cucumber kimchee is a bonus!