Similar to the dried limes used in the lentil salad shown earlier, Chinese salted or fermented black beans are a great way to add complex funky flavors to your food. A roughly chopped tablespoon added to a stir fry will make you an instant convert. The beans are cheap and easy to find in a decent Asian market (though I have yet to find them in the conventional grocery stores here in DC).

Recently, I came across an ingenious new way to take advantage of these concentrated flavor bombs. Compared to meat stocks, whose flavors develop over the course of hours-long simmering, vegetarian stocks can be disappointing flavor-wise (even though [or because?] they are more quickly made). Though I haven’t made a vegetarian pho yet this month, such a stock – suffused with star anise, cloves, lemongrass and cinnamon – might just be an exception. But until then, this stock for a simple tofu-vegetable soup will certainly do.

Ginger, scallions, cilantro stems and fermented black beans are all it takes. Just simmer for half an hour and let stand for another 30 minutes before straining and you’re all set. The soup itself can be made with just about anything you want. In addition to the tofu, I used some cabbage, scallions and rice noodles along with more fermented black beans and a bit of fish sauce, brown sugar, rice vinegar, ginger, garlic and sesame oil. A handful of cilantro at the end and you’re all set!