Tomato, Enoki Mushroom and Tofu Soup

Last Updated on January 8, 2024

Wonder what to make with tomatoes? How about tomato soup? This homemade gluten-free Tomato, Enoki Mushroom and Tofu soup is loaded with fresh tomatoes, full of nutrients, and packed with rich flavor.

It’s warm, cozy, and comforting yet also luxurious and elegant. Few ingredients are prepared well. It’s quick to make and ridiculously delicious!

We are going to use fresh tomatoes instead of canned tomatoes. This recipe is inspired by popular Chinese tomato egg drop soup, but here I use silken tofu as a replacement for eggs and also add enoki mushroom for some texture. The whole cooking process is only 10 minutes!

Healthy Asian Style Tomato Soup

The benefits of cooking tomatoes in soups- make the tomatoes heart-healthier and boost their cancer-fighting ability as tomatoes release a cancer-fighting antioxidant when cooked.

Despite the loss of vitamin C during the cooking process, the reverse was true for the tomatoes’ lycopene content. After 2 minutes of cooking, they had 54% more lycopene, and after 30 minutes, they had 164% more (164%!).

According to Scientific American, this is because the heat can break down some tougher cell walls in the plant, making it easier for the body to absorb its nutrients.

So eating cooked tomatoes you will get more nutrients out of them!

So, what ingredients do we need for this Asian-style tomato soup?

Ingredients for Tomato, Enoki Mushroom and Tofu Soup

• Tomatoes – Plum tomatoes, Roma tomatoes, or any type of tomatoes, as long as they’re sweet and meaty.

• Silken Tofu (a type of bean curd) – cut it into roughly 1.5×1.5×1.5 cm cubes. Silken tofu has a smooth and “silky” appearance. It’s very light in texture with a wonderful, creamy mouthfeel and fatty flavor. Just a reminder, some silken tofu in Asian groceries contain eggs, don’t forget to check the label before purchasing. If you can’t find silken tofu in the shops, regular or lite-firm is a replacement for this recipe. But Not firm tofu or extra-firm tofu!

• Enoki Mushroom– Enoki mushrooms are a healthy and delicious addition to my soup. I like to add enoki to my noodles soup like this one The Best Easy Vegan Ramen The taste of enoki mushrooms is mild and nutty. They are slightly crunchy, with a surprisingly meat-like texture for being plant-based.

• Ginger- Peeled and sliced, we only need 2-3 slices to boost the flavor. Discarded after finishing cooking.

• Shallots( Scallion or Spring Onion)- We need 2-3 springs of shallots. Use the white parts for frying with tomatoes, and the green parts for garnish.

Seasonings for the soup base

• Vegetable Broth (vegetable stock)- Store-bought low-sodium vegetable broth or if you like to make your own, check this recipe out How to make Asian-Style Vegetable Stock.

• Tomato Paste– Tomato paste is a very thick paste of tomatoes that’s even more concentrated than tomato puree.

• Sesame Oil– gives the soup a nutty flavor with a strong roast-y aroma

• Organic Sugar– Gives the soup extra sweetness

• Salt & Ground White Pepper– Taste first to see if you need more.

• Cornstarch Slurry– simply mix cornstarch and water to form a paste. Slightly thicken the broth as we don’t want the soup very watery.

How to make Tomato Concasse

Concasse is a French culinary term.

A concasse cut involves peeling, deseeding, and chopping a tomato. In order to make the tomato easier to peel, you will have to drop it in hot boiling water then plunge it into an ice bath.

P.S. I personally like my tomato soup without tomato skin floating around in my soup. However, if you don’t mind tomato skin in your soup, you can just deseed the tomatoes and dice them smaller.

The following pictures are my four steps of making tomato concasse:

1. For the first step, you need to use a sharp knife to score an “X” on the bottom of each tomato.
2. Drop the tomatoes into a bowl of hot boiling water for 10 seconds, take them out then plunge them into an ice bath for 10 seconds. Take out the tomatoes from the icy water and peel them gently.
3. Cut tomatoes into quarters, use the knife to deseed the tomatoes, and also remove the cores.
4. Slice tomatoes into strips then cut them into bite-sized dice.

HOW TO MAKE ( Step by Step )

1. Prepare tomato concasese by following the steps listed above(  if you don’t mind tomato skin in your soup, you can just deseed the tomatoes and dice them smaller. ) Gently cut silken tofu into 1.5cm bite-sized cubes, also chop Enoki mushrooms into 2 cm long and thinly slice shallot( spring onion), the white part for cooking, the green part for garnish.
2. Heat 1 tablespoon oil in a heavy-based pot or saucepan over medium heat. Add the tomato concasse, sliced shallot, and Enoki mushroom, and saute for 2-3 minutes until the tomatoes are softened. 
3. Pour vegetable broth( stock)and water into the pot.
4. Add all the seasonings into the broth( tomato paste, sesame oil, sugar, salt& white pepper)
5. Put the lid on, bring it to a boil then turn the heat down. Let it simmer away for 10 minutes
6. After 10 minutes, add silken tofu cubes to the soup, also make the cornstarch slurry by mixing cornstarch and water in a small bowl. Use a spoon or a ladle to slowly swirl the soup in a whirlpool motion. Keep swirling as you pour in the cornstarch slurry until well incorporated, Bring it to a boil then serve with sliced shallot( green onion) on the top.

Enjoy your Asian-style Tomato Soup!! 🙂

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