Noodle soups are one of my favourite things to have in the winter. It gets to be an addiction to slurp up the noodles and broth, with a hit of spice.

Funny I hadn’t tried to make many until this year. This time around, I decided to try making Tom Yum soup with some noodles added to make it into a meal. The results weren’t quite what I expected, but it sure did hit the spot!

It started with a trip to Chinatown, searching for soba noodles. While there, I kept seeing things I wanted to cook with. Remember how we talked about getting inspired by ingredients? I saw the lovely stalks of lemongrass and knew I had to do something with them! I decided to make some kind of soup, and just grabbed up other ingredients that I thought I would need.

Had to get some rice noodles.

There’s a trick to cooking rice noodles. It took me years of trying to finally make them without ending up with a gloopy mess. Here’s the trick – soak in a bowl in cool water for at least a half hour, bring a pot of water to a boil and turn off. Drop noodles into the hot water, gently stir around, and cook for about 2 minutes. Drain, and put noodles into cool water to stop the cooking process. Drain again, and set aside until you’re ready to use them.

OK, back to the soup. I got home, and looked up a recipe for Tom Yum soup – one of my very favourite Thai soups. Turned out, I only needed to get a few more ingredients to make it. I did make some substitutions, however. The chili paste I used was a little different, and I think the tamarind concentrate was a little different… and the noodles aren’t really typical in Tom Yum.

It didn’t turn out exactly like Tom Yum, but it made a great meal. The tofu was a great addition, as it soaked up lots of the intense flavour. The broth was really quite tart – not a surprise, considering the tamarind and citrus. The noodles were perfect.

I think this started a bit of a trend for me – I’ve made another noodle soup since (to be posted soon!), and I’m really itching to make a soup like my favourite Vietnamese soup (one we lovingly refer to as ‘crack soup’).

Until next time!

Yummy Noodle Soup

Part ‘Tom Yum’, with lots of noodles. Modified from a recipe found on Temple of Thai.

Ingredients:

• wide rice noodles, cooked
• 4 cups of vegetable broth (or water)
• 2 stalks fresh lemon grass, trim off the very end of the root and smash with the side of a cleaver of chef’s knife; cut into 1 inch pieces; or 2 pc dried
• 3 slices fresh galangal root (smashed) or 2 pc dried
• 3 fresh kaffir lime leave or 4 pc dried (I used 1 teaspoon ground)
• 2 teapoons tamarind concentrate
• 1 tablespoon fish sauce
• 300g firm tofu, cubed
• 5 long beans, ends trimmed, cut into 1 – 2 inch lengths
• 5 baby bok choi, cleaned, and separated into stalks
• 3 green onions, white parts sliced into big pieces, green parts cut into small rings
• 1 teaspoons chili paste (I used Sriracha, but it called for a different Thai chili paste)
• a few oyster mushrooms
• 1 small ripe tomato, cut into wedges 1/4 inch thick
• 1 small lime, squeezed
• 2 sprigs fresh cilantro

Preparation:

1. Bring liquid to boil over high heat in a medium-sized saucepan.
2. Add the lemon grass, galangal, kaffir lime leaf, fish sauce and tamarind concentrate.
3. Add the tofu, bok choi, long beans, onion (white part only), chili paste and mushrooms. Boil 7 minutes, or until the the veggies are cooked through.
4. Add the tomatoes. Turn off the heat. Add the lime juice.
5. Taste to adjust the seasoning, adding fish sauce to taste.
6. Add a portion of noodles to a bowl, ladel in some soup, garnish with cilantro and green onion (green part only) and serve.

Serves 3 to 4.