5-Flavor Soup from "Avatar: The Last Airbender"

          In the episode "Puppet Master" (ATLA s.3, ep.8), aside from learning about some pretty freaky but completely logical bending, we're introduced to another Southern Water Tribe food; five-flavor soup. While traveling in the woods, our quartet is met by an elderly woman named Hama who is an inn keeper in a small Fire Nation village. Later, it's not only revealed that she's from the Southern Water Tribe, but also that she's a water bender, which is huge news to Katara who she grew up thinking she was the only one. To celebrate the big reveal Hama prepares a traditional Southern Water Tribe meal with five-flavor soup as the main dish. After she places the large serving dish of soup on the table she water bends individual servings into everyones' bowl.

Note: None of the ingredients for the soup are mentioned in the episode, but it's clearly a broth soup. For the five flavors I decided to do five groupings of ingredients: sea flavor = dashi (fish) stock & seaweed, vegetable flavor = vegetable stock & mushrooms & onion, salt = soy sauce, spice = ginger & garlic, sweet = aji-mirin & sugar. Many of these ingredients can be found in the Asian section of your grocery store or at an Asian market. And don't be fooled by this soup's plain look, it's a definite flavor blast once it hits your mouth ♥. ((Ack! It's a sneak attack, like Hama. Watch out!))

Southern Water Tribe 5-Flavor Soup

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Ingredients:
1 Tbsp. Sesame Oil

Sea
1/4 Cup Dashi Powder
2 Cups Water
Several Sheets of Dried Seaweed (aka Nori/Laver)
Vegetable
2 Cups Vegetable Stock
1 pkg. (~1 oz.) Dried Shiitake Mushrooms
2 Cups Water
1 Shallot (small onion), finely diced
(food processor works great)
Salt
3 Tbsp. Soy Sauce
Spice
1 tsp. Grated Ginger
2 tsp. Minced Garlic
Sweet
2 tsp. White Granulated Sugar
3 Tbsp. Aji-Mirin Sweet Cooking Rice Wine

Importnat Items:
Fine Mesh Strainer

Directions:
1. In a large pot over medium heat, cook the sesame oil, shallot bits, soy sauce, ginger, garlic, sugar, & aji-mirin until the shallot bits are tender, about 10 mins.
2. In a microwavable bowl or cup combine 2 cups of water with the dashi powder. Microwave for about 3 mins to dissolve the dashi & then pour the liquid into the pot. In the same microwavable container pour 2 more cups of water & add the dried mushrooms. Microwave for 3 mins so that the mushrooms are reconstituted & a broth is created. Pour the mushrooms & liquid into the pot. Add the vegetable stock to the pot & stir. Next, add the sheets of seaweed (rip into manageable pieces if needed). Stir everything together & bring to a boil. Turn the heat to low & cover. Simmer low for about 20 mins or so until all of the flavors have combined nicely.
3. Place a mesh strainer over a large serving bowl or another large pot & strain the soup so you end up with only the beautiful brown broth below. Serve hot.
Serving Suggestion (shown below): Gather the mushrooms from the strainer, rinse them off, & place a few in each bowl of soup. Float a couple of pieces of dried seaweed in the soup too, or if you don't want large pieces, roll up a seaweed sheet & cut it into very thin strips using a clean pair of kitchen scissors.

* For extra yum add in some Southern Water Tribe Seaweed Noodles! *

* And make sure you check out The Geeky Chef's version of Avatar's 5-Flavor Soup! *