Alicia's magical healing soup-plus some more goodies!

I was in a soup-y mood on Saturday. Only way to describe it, my friends. I wanted to try another Alicia recipe, this one looked very fast and adaptable. It was sort of an add-anything-you-have-laying-around kind of soup. But it was called "Alicia's Magical Healing Soup" so that pulled me in...
I have to admit I cheated. I used very little of these awesome veggies, (no daikon, mushrooms, leeks, ginger, watercress, scallions) Yeah. How did it work? I just added more of the vegetables I had, which were carrots, celery, broccoli, red onions, broccoli stalks, and some green beans. I actually also added 1/2 tsp of Better than Boullion broth stuff to make up for the lost ginger taste, just to add some pizazz. But I know that the soup would be SO much more awesome with some of the other veggies. Boy am I missing out.
But, hence the title, I did feel very well nourished and cleansed after eating this. Its MAGICAL! haha.

Serves 2

1/2 medium carrot, cut into large chunks
1/4 medium daikon, ditto to the carrot
1/4 red onion, cut in chunks
2-3 celery stalks, chopped
3-4 small broccoli florets
4 button mushrooms, sliced
2-3 trumpet mushrooms, sliced
1/2 medium leek, halved then cut into large chunks and swirled in water to dislodge any grit
Ginger juice to taste (grate some ginger, squeeze the juice out with your fingers)
Shoyu to taste
1 whole scallion, thinly sliced
1/4 bunch watercress
Mochi as an optional topping (!)
Toasted nori pieces as an opional topping

Boil 3 cups of water in a large pot. Add the carrot and daikon, reduce the heat to a simmer and add the red onion, cooking for 3 minutes. Add the celery, broccoli, mushrooms, and leek. Add the ginger juice and shoyu to the broth to taste. Simmer until the veggies are cooked through but still firm, about 5 minutes. Add the scallion, turn off the heat. To serve, ladle the soup into bowls and top with watercress, mochi, and nori.

Now. You MUST know what mochi is. Mochi is made from sweet rice, and its sticky and gooey. It comes in a package with a firm, boring colored block. You slice off little squares and then prepare from there. To do the savory version, heres wattya do. (This can also be baked, but the one in my book has a pan fried version, so I tried that.)

1-2 teaspoons sesame/olive oil

1 package (! I used only 1 strip, about 4-5 pieces!0_o) Mochi

1/4 sheet nori per serving

grated daikon

Sweet version

1-2 teaspoons sesame/olive oil

Mochi (Any amount...)

shoyu

Brown rice syrup

Heat the oil in a cast-iron or stainless steel pan, over medium heat. Place the mochi pieces into the pan, make sure they don't touch, and cover and reduce the heat to low. Cook for 4 minutes, then flip it. (FOR SWEET VERSION-Add 2 drops shoyu to each piece.) Cover, let cook for 4 more minutes. The mochi should get large bubbles, and puff up and look all gooey and stuff.

For savory, top with nori and daikon, or put in soup like I did:)

For sweet, drizzle with brown rice syrup. (This was my dessert!)

You will fall in love with mochi. I am plotting to have it for breakfast tomorrow! YAY!