Soup on a questional foundation
I have to confess: I eat a lot of ramen. Ramen has a bad rap, what with the scary fats, sky high sodium content and a general lack of useful nutrients, but in my experience it also has great potential when you have a nice range of things to add, in terms of vegetables, spices and proteins. Today's lunch was yet another variation on the ramen soup experience and in celebration, here are some of my favourite recipes. I admit that I could be just as satisfied if I bothered to acquire MSG and set general quantity controlling habits for the noodle and broth base. This is the kind of soup I will make in a hurry, or after a really long day, or when I have just done groceries and am really excited about some essential quality component. Of course, nothing is measured when I cook, and my policy is make do with what's around, so if you feel like giving ramen another go, don't hold yourself back on because of my suggestions.
Ginger Standard:
Vegetable Mr. Noodle, or other ramen variaties
Twice the suggested water
For the broth:
1 green onion or 1/4 of a white onion, thinly sliced half rings
1/2 - 1 in ginger root
1 garlic clove
pinch of Cinnamon (a key ingredient in pho soup, FYI)
fresh ground pepper
vegetables:
a carrot, some celery, some cabbage like nappa or bok choy, celeriac, I do not recommend bell peppers or broccoli unless you are really sure you want those flavours and can catch them before they are over cooked - save them for a stir fry.
2-3 mushrooms are always welcome, be they cafe, button, white, mini bella, whatever. I don't recommend wasting really good stuff on this.
To end:
juice from half a lime. You can also replace the lime with another acidic juice. I've recently tried cranberry and often pour in a little apple to keep things more local. This adds another dimension to the broth flavour.
1 tsp of honey or corn syrup (optional, can depend on the quality of your carrot)
toasted sesame oil
Sesame seeds
Tofu of any variety can be tossed in too.
Everything that needs slicing, I like to cut thin and long, for short (within 3 minutes) cooking time and yet easy chopstick plucking. Usually I toss in the dry spices as the water is put on the heat. Once it is boiling, I pile in the chopped vegetable matter and tofu and settle the noddles on top, with the soup base as well. Towards the end, I'll squeeze in the lime juice, sesame oil, and any sweetening if I feel like it, and then settle down with a huge bowl of simmered salade and noodles in a delicious broth.
Peanut Variation:
Like the ginger standard but with a few additions:
1 tsp Tumeric
2-3 tbsp of Peanut butter
Red cabbage also goes well in this as a vegetable, while mushrooms can be overwhelmed by the peanut.
Lovage Green:
A friend of my mothers brought me some lovage from her garden, and it's kind of like celery leaves in taste, but more so and better. To go with this, the spicing was simple: black pepper, green onion. Vegetables were celery, nappa and some mushrooms. 150 g of firm tofu was tossed in, with a little tamari and juice from half a lime. The lovage was lovely and will likely be grown in my garden next year because the flavour is really too good to pass up.
I've not been eating eggs for a while, but if they are part of your diet, I recommend dropping one into the broth around minute 2 and stirring it in can be a nice added protein lump. I've also tried adding lettuce as a green, which works great so long as you add it late. Any other favourite varaitions on the cheap noodle soups?
Ginger Standard:
Vegetable Mr. Noodle, or other ramen variaties
Twice the suggested water
For the broth:
1 green onion or 1/4 of a white onion, thinly sliced half rings
1/2 - 1 in ginger root
1 garlic clove
pinch of Cinnamon (a key ingredient in pho soup, FYI)
fresh ground pepper
vegetables:
a carrot, some celery, some cabbage like nappa or bok choy, celeriac, I do not recommend bell peppers or broccoli unless you are really sure you want those flavours and can catch them before they are over cooked - save them for a stir fry.
2-3 mushrooms are always welcome, be they cafe, button, white, mini bella, whatever. I don't recommend wasting really good stuff on this.
To end:
juice from half a lime. You can also replace the lime with another acidic juice. I've recently tried cranberry and often pour in a little apple to keep things more local. This adds another dimension to the broth flavour.
1 tsp of honey or corn syrup (optional, can depend on the quality of your carrot)
toasted sesame oil
Sesame seeds
Tofu of any variety can be tossed in too.
Everything that needs slicing, I like to cut thin and long, for short (within 3 minutes) cooking time and yet easy chopstick plucking. Usually I toss in the dry spices as the water is put on the heat. Once it is boiling, I pile in the chopped vegetable matter and tofu and settle the noddles on top, with the soup base as well. Towards the end, I'll squeeze in the lime juice, sesame oil, and any sweetening if I feel like it, and then settle down with a huge bowl of simmered salade and noodles in a delicious broth.
Peanut Variation:
Like the ginger standard but with a few additions:
1 tsp Tumeric
2-3 tbsp of Peanut butter
Red cabbage also goes well in this as a vegetable, while mushrooms can be overwhelmed by the peanut.
Lovage Green:
A friend of my mothers brought me some lovage from her garden, and it's kind of like celery leaves in taste, but more so and better. To go with this, the spicing was simple: black pepper, green onion. Vegetables were celery, nappa and some mushrooms. 150 g of firm tofu was tossed in, with a little tamari and juice from half a lime. The lovage was lovely and will likely be grown in my garden next year because the flavour is really too good to pass up.
I've not been eating eggs for a while, but if they are part of your diet, I recommend dropping one into the broth around minute 2 and stirring it in can be a nice added protein lump. I've also tried adding lettuce as a green, which works great so long as you add it late. Any other favourite varaitions on the cheap noodle soups?