Dishing Up the Dirt

Spicy Pork & Turnip Soup with Soy Pickled Eggs

If you’re looking for a quick, simple soup to prepare with all of your CSA turnips this is the soup for you! This has quickly become a household favorite and we’ve made it 3 times since mid April when the first of the turnips  were available at the farm. Aside from the time it takes to quick pickled your eggs (you can also do that in advance) this soup comes together in 30 minutes.  It’s spicy, brothy, and the perfect light soup for a warm spring evening. I hope you all are able to grab turnips at your local farmers market or in your next CSA box. And don’t forget to keep those greens on your turnips!! They’re used in this recipe. However, if you can’t fine young turnips with their greens attached you can substitute with another green such as bok choy, spinach, chard, mustard greens or even kale. Have fun with this recipe and enjoy the simple flavors of spring!

Spicy Pork & Turnip Soup with Soy Pickled Eggs

Prep Time: 25 minutes    Cook Time: 30 minutes    Serves: 4

Soy Pickled Eggs
  • 4 eggs
  • 2 cloves of garlic, peeled and left whole
  • 1/2 teaspoon crushed red pepper flakes
  • 3/4 cup low sodium soy sauce
  • 2 tablespoons rice vinegar
Soup
  • 1 pound ground pork
  • 2 tablespoons finely grated fresh ginger
  • 3/4 teaspoon crushed red pepper flakes
  • 1/2 teaspoon ground cumin
  • hefty pinch of salt and pepper
  • 1 tablespoon olive oil
  • 3 stalks of green garlic, finely chopped (white and pale green parts only) or garlic cloves
  • 1 small bunch of turnips with their greens, turnips cut into 1/2 inch chunks and greens roughly chopped
  • 4 cups water
  • 2 tablespoons low sodium soy sauce + additional to taste
  • 1 teaspoon fish sauce
Optional Toppings
  • 1-2 tablespoons kraut-chi or kimchi
  • 1 tablespoon fermented chili paste

Preparation

  1. Gently lower eggs into a large saucepan of boiling water. Cook 7 minutes. Using a slotted spoon, transfer to a bowl of ice water and let cool until you can easily handle them. Peel the eggs and set aside.

    Meanwhile, bring garlic, pepper flakes, soy sauce, vinegar and 2 cups of water to a boil in a medium size saucepan. Reduce the heat and simmer for about 5 minutes. Remove from the heat and add the eggs. Let the eggs marinate in the mixture for at least one hour or in the fridge overnight.

    Mix the pork, ginger, red pepper flakes, cumin, salt and pepper in a large bowl until combined.

    Heat the oil in a large dutch oven or soup pot over medium high heat. Add the green garlic and cook for about 1 minute, stirring often. Add the pork and use a wooden spoon to break up the meat a bit and cook until lightly browned and no longer pink. About 5-7 minutes.  Add the water, turnips (reserving the greens for later) and bring to a boil. Reduce the heat and simmer until the turnips are fork tender, about 10 minutes. Add the turnip greens, soy sauce and fish sauce and give the pot a good stir. Simmer for about 5 minutes longer to let the flavors meld. Taste for seasonings and adjust as needed.

    Serve the soup topped with the quick pickled eggs and garnish with fermented chili past and kimchi if desired.

Notes

Use this recipe as a guide and adjust measurements and ingredients as necessary. Soy pickled eggs are adapted from Bon Appetit


Leave a Reply

6 thoughts on “Spicy Pork & Turnip Soup with Soy Pickled Eggs

  1. Jules says:

    Made this without the soy eggs and was blown away with how delicious the turnips were. Could become my new favourite veg. Thanks Andrea 🙂

  2. Judith says:

    I made this with Impossible Burger and it was fantastic! I used a little less ginger and hot peppers to appeal to all palates. Rave reviews and it tasted even better the second day!

    1. Andrea says:

      Yay! So happy to hear!

  3. Cory Raiton says:

    I was ready for this to suck. I had so many substitutions planned that I anticipated there was NO WAY it would taste good. But I was determined because my neighbor and CSA partner, Judith, has made it twice this month to rave reviews. I needed to see what all the hype was about. So, I made this last night. Since I didn’t have enough turnips I used some radishes too. I didn’t have my turnip greens anymore so I used spinach. I didn’t have time to pickle the eggs so I just soft boiled them and skipped the pickling step. And I also wanted my vegetarian son who eats very few things (SOB) to try it so I chopped up some frozen vegetarian “meatballs” from IKEA. Yep. I am ashamed. BUT, guess what? This soup was the ONLY soup I have ever made that did not have one drop of leftovers at the end of the meal. Even my picky-as-hell and even snarkier vegetarian teenage boy told me between slurps “Mom, this is delicious.” I felt tears well in my eyes. I looked around the room at my family happily eating the most delicious turnip soup and literally could not believe it. I can’t even imagine how good this would be if I made it as directed (which I will attempt as soon as my next CSA box arrives….today). THANK YOU, ANDREA and PS – this soup did not pop up when I searched the blog for “turnip” so there might be a keyword tag missing!

  4. Matilda Höög says:

    Didn’t care for this at all. The broth tasted like a mild base, nothing special about it at all. I do not understand what the excitememt is about. The eggs were good, but then I made them in advance using mirin and soy, so… not really like this recipe.

    1. Andrea says:

      Sorry to hear this didn’t work for you. This is a favorite among blog readers and our family. The base should be plenty flavorful with ginger, spices, soy sauce and fish sauce. Not sure if you missed an ingredient but bland this soup is not. As I always state in my recipe notes, taste test as you go and add additional seasonings as needed.

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