Soup for Cilantro Lovers

I haven’t had time recently to cook, being busy doing interviews and preparing for the Chronicle’s Thanksgiving cook-off. (Go Team Tara! That’s my team, FYI.) So sometimes I need something quick and easy, and one thing that’s super easy is this recipe for beef and cilantro soup.

This soup is actually a mainstay in many Chinese restaurants. Growing up in Hawaii, our family went out to eat every Saturday night at a local Chinese restaurant, and this was one of the regular soup offerings we would order. (The others were often cream corn soup, rainbow tofu soup and crackling rice soup.) This was one of my favorites because of the clear broth and simplicity, plus the aroma of all that cilantro.

Now, if you don’t like cilantro (known as Chinese parsley in Hawaii because it’s used as a garnish in virtually all Chinese dishes) then this isn’t for you . I had a co-worker in Hawaii who hated hated hated cilantro. Just talking about it made her throw up just a little bit in her mouth. Just a little. And once when I raved about how this was one of my favorite soups, she stared at me like I was from Mars, it was so alien to her as to why I enjoyed this luscious and aromatic herb. Some people are just so against cilantro. Lucky for me, I’m not. I hope you aren’t either because this is a lovely light soup on a cold winter’s night. Enjoy!