Five Flavor Soup

From the Avatar: The Last Airbender television series 

 

A while back, I conducted a poll to see which Avatar: The Last Airbender dish you all wanted to see the most, and Five Flavor Soup came out on top. This soup made its appearance in Season 3, in the episode "The Puppetmaster," when the Waterbender Hama made it for Avatar Aang and his gang while they were hiding in the Fire Nation. Hama wanted to serve them a traditional Southern Water Tribe dish, and like the show itself, the recipe reflects a blend of various Asian influences.

 

The episode didn’t provide much detail, so I made a few assumptions about the soup. The most important one is that it’s vegetarian, considering Aang (who doesn’t eat meat) enjoys it with no issue. In the episode, the soup looks like it's just a simple broth, but I’m guessing that was more of an animation budget decision than anything. While the broth on its own has a deep, rich flavor that could easily stand alone, I've added a bit more to the dish to make it hearty.

 

When I first heard the name, I immediately thought of Chinese Five Spice, which is a fragrant blend of star anise, cinnamon, cloves, fennel, and Sichuan peppercorns. These warm spices are perfect for cold weather, so I made sure they came through. There are also five main ingredients in the soup: the wontons, broad beans, mushrooms, cabbage, and wakame. I tried to stick to ingredients that the Water Tribe might use, like kelp (which grows in water) and broad beans (a crop that thrives in cold climates). And, of course, cabbages were a necessity. 

 

At first glance, this recipe might look a little complex due to the number of ingredients and steps, but it’s really not as intimidating as it seems! The process is straightforward, and the result is a light yet satisfying soup, brimming with heat, spice, and umami.

 

Ingredients:

• 1 sheet kombu
• 10 dried shiitake mushrooms
• 6 cups water
• 1-inch piece of ginger root
• 10 cloves garlic, minced, divided
  
• 6 leaves Napa cabbage, divided
• 1 ½ cups broad beans, divided
• 1 Asian pear, grated or finely chopped
• 5 green onions, sliced on a bias
  
• ¼ cup soy sauce (or to taste)
• 2 teaspoons Chinese five spice
  
• Neutral oil for sautéing
  
• Wonton wrappers (about 12–18)
• Salt (for boiling wontons)
  
• A couple pinches of wakame
  
• 1 teaspoon sesame oil
• 1 tbsp garlic chili sauce (optional, to taste)
• 1 tbsp mirin
  

Directions

1. In a large soup pot, combine the water and kombu. Bring to a simmer over medium heat, then add the dried mushrooms, half the minced garlic, and the ginger slices.
2. Increase heat to medium-high and bring to a boil. Once boiling, reduce heat to low and let it gently simmer while you prepare the wonton filling.
3. Finely chop half (3/4 cup) of of the broad beans, 2 rehydrated mushrooms from the broth, and 2 leaves of Napa cabbage. You want the pieces to be very small, almost minced.
4. In a small bowl, mix the chopped mushrooms, beans, and cabbage with the green onions, Asian pear, and remaining garlic. Add soy sauce and five spice to taste.
5. Heat oil in a frying pan and sauté the mixture until browned. Let the filling cool until just warm.
6. Assemble the wontons, filling each wrapper with a a heaping teaspoon of the mixture. If you need help folding wontons, this instructional quick video will help. Make about 4 or 5 wontons per serving, or up to 25 wontons.
7. In a separate pot, bring salted water to a boil. Cook wontons until they become translucent, about 3–4 minutes. Remove with a slotted spoon and place in serving bowls.
8. Reduce the heat on the broth and remove the kombu and ginger slices, keeping the mushrooms in. You can slice the mushrooms then add them back, if desired. Also slice the remaining napa cabbage.
9. Add the remaining broad beans, sliced Napa cabbage, and a couple pinches of wakame to the broth (it expands significantly).  
10. Simmer for another 5–10 minutes or until the broad beans and cabbage are tender.
11. Stir in the remaining soy sauce, sesame oil, mirin, and garlic chili sauce. Taste and adjust seasonings to your liking. 
12. Ladle the hot broth and veggies over the wontons in the serving bowls and enjoy.

Serves 4 to 5

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Photo by Geeky Chef

This recipe has been reformatted and reworded for clarity. Some tweaks have been made to the ingredients and the method for more consistent results.