Trumpets of the Dead

I made this soup recently for Ashley. She has been having a brutal cough and has been very congested. I did some home research and found that trumpt mushrooms are good for the lungs and of course ginger is always great for what ails you. She was to sick to even eat but she was able to stop by and pick a bowl up. I am thrilled to try and make a nice soup to make her feel better. I swiped a bowl for myself and gave her the rest. Less than an hour later she sent me a text with an image of the empty container I gave her the soup in with the caption, "I really like the soup." It made me feel good to be able to help her out without yucky western medicine.


Over the years, I have found a trick to keeping my ginger fresh and getting a nice easy shred on it, which is something you will need for this recipe. When you have the whole root, peel and freeze it. This will stay good for month and you can simply take a chunk out and use it on a cheese grater to get a nice shred. I hated opening my refrigerator to find my ginger wilted and soft. Got to love an easy fix.


Trumpets of the Dead Soup

1 shallot (chopped)
1 clove of garlic (chopped)
2 1/2 cups of water
1/2 cup of black trumpt mushrooms (chopped)
1/3 cup of oyster mushrooms (chopped)
2 tablespoons of soybeans
2 tablespoons of soy sauce
1 1/2 tablespoon of miso paste
1 tablespoon of oil
1 tablespoon of ginger (shredded)
2 teaspoons of dulse flakes
2 teaspoons of ginger (chopped)
1 teaspoon of dark sesame oil

In a saute pan, heat the sesame oil and vegetable oil. Add the shallots, garlic, shredded ginger, dulse flakes and both mushrooms. Cook until the garlic is just shy of browning, then remove from heat.

In the meantime, bring the water to a simmer and add the miso paste. Add the soybeans and chopped ginger and simmer for about 5 minutes, do not let it boil. Add the mushroom mixture and soy sauce and simmer for 10 minutes, Serve hot.



In case you were wondering, black trumpt mushrooms are also called "Trumpets of the Dead". Ashley felt this should be called "get well soon soup" but I wanted to be able to say "Trumpets of the Dead". It is very dramatic.