Thank you, Mika. Thank you, supermarkets that sell no sodium-free and baby friendly stocks. Never in my crazy dreams would I expect that I would be making stock in this sleep-deprived and time-deprived period. Unimaginative as ever, I panicked after reading various baby-weaning recipes that require baby-friendly broths. I felt that to be a good mother, I should be able to provide him with a wide variety of foods. What can I say? I kind of pushed myself to check out if it is possible to cook my own broths. And here I am, blogging about this vegetable broth from Stonesoup after hovering over the stove twice. Yes, I made it two times! I had doubled the amount at the last round to make my life easier.
The satisfaction of making your own broth is pretty high. You now have the right to scoff at bullion cubes and stock cartons after looking at the ingredients listed. The amount of sodium contained in regular store-bought broths can be shocking. Sometimes, it is the first ingredient on the list. For those who did not know, the item listed first in the ingredients listing of a product is the most used in the making of the said product. So, here is to knowing what goes into your belly and flaunting rights. This makes approximately 4 cups of broth.
Ingredients
2 onions, chopped
2 carrots, chopped
2 ribs celery, chopped
1 punnet cherry tomatoes, halved
2 cloves garlic, smashed
2 handfuls button mushrooms, sliced
1 teaspoon black pepper corns
5 cups water
Directions
Heat a few tablespoons olive oil over a medium heat. Add onion, celery and carrot. Cook, covered stirring occasionally until veg are soft and starting to brown a little.
Add remaining ingredients and bring to a gentle simmer. Cook gently for about an hour or until the stock tastes rich and full. Strain stock and discard vegetable solids.
It is actually pretty simple. The hard part is the waiting time as I feel insecure about letting a gas stove running for too long. I am weird that way. And also the straining part. I am not sure how other people would do this but for me, to strain, I had ladled the broth into a sieve that is on top of a measuring jar. When the liquids have all been run through the sieve, the remaining vegetables will be ladled on the sieve and squished with the ladle to extract as much broth out as possible. Hehehe, that is how precious it is to me.
Cloth and Apron 