Thai-Spiced Mushroom Noodle Soup

I feel like I am living in Sleepy Hollow. Does anyone remember Sleepy Hollow, the horror movie? I don't remember anything about it except that the village was perpetually swamped in a dense fog in that movie (oh yeah, and some headless guy was riding around in the swirling mist).

Well, St. Louis has been enveloped in a dense fog for days now, and in the middle of the sickly weather, V has a nasty cold of the sneezing, sniffling, hacking variety. Where cutting edge medical science can do nothing about the rhinovirus, the old-fashioned route of "food as medicine" often works, and we have been eating lots of soups and soupy khichdi lately.

Last night, I made up this soup as I went along and we were very pleased with the results, so I decided to write up a quick recipe here. With flavors borrowed from Thai cuisine, this pot of soup goes to the soup-and-salad challenge No Croutons Required where the theme for January is Thai cuisine.

The aromatic, soothing ingredient here is lemongrass; I have a pot growing at home that I bought from Bowood Farms last summer. A whiff of the sweet, citrusy aroma of lemongrass pierces though clogged sinuses and makes one go ahhh....

Thai-Spiced Mushroom Noodle Soup

1. In a soup pot, heat 2 tsp. oil and saute until slightly browned:
2 bunches green onions (white parts only)
1 10 oz. box of cremini mushrooms, sliced thinly
2 small carrots, cut in small dice

2. Add 3-4 cups mushroom stock/vegetable stock/water and a tsp. or so of minced lemongrass (this post has great tips on working with lemongrass) . Bring to a boil.

3. Stir in a heaped tsp. of Thai red curry paste (or more or less to taste), 1 tsp. sugar and some soy sauce if the soup requires salt (taste first). Add a handful of dry (uncooked) udon noodles.

4. Let the soup simmer for 10 minutes or so, until the noodles are tender.

5. Turn off the heat and garnish the soup with the green parts of the green onions, cilantro and lime juice to taste.

This is such a slurpable soup! The noodles plump up with all the aromatic flavors, and add some heft to the broth.

See you in a few...

Sunday Supper: Curry Noodle Soup

This post is part of the 7 S series: Soup, Salad, Sandwich, Snack, Street food for Sunday Supper. These are light(er) meals for Sunday night; a tasty way to end indulgent weekends and get ready for a new week. A way to use the vegetable goodness brought home on Saturday mornings. A chance to try something a new recipe, a new ingredient or a new cuisine every weekend.

As you can see, I can't seem to stay away from my Sunday posting routine, and especially that of a series. So here it is, a new series with a simple and fairly open-ended premise: trying out new one-dish meals. Given that I am now a whole lot busier than I was during the A-Z series earlier this year, I expect that this one is going to be low-maintenance.

The first in the series is a soup from a wonderful new cookbook given to me as a graduation gift by my darling friend Laureen. She has that special knack of giving the most thoughtful and special gifts every single time. The cookbook is called Super Natural Cooking, written by a food blogger- Heidi Swanson of 101 cookbooks and Mighty Foods. In a world where it seems like a new cookbook is launched every minute or so, this is a very special body of work. While it has beautiful splashy pictures, it is completely unlike the usual glossy tomes- there is something very earthy about the colors and the paper that appeals to me. The central theme of this book is that it talks about "five ways to incorporate whole and natural ingredients into your cooking". It suggests specific and do-able ways to build a natural foods pantry, explore a wide variety of grains, cook by color (it is well-known that the darker the vegetable, the higher the level of certain micro-nutrients like anti-oxidants), know your superfoods and use natural sweeteners. Essentially, the books encourages the average home cook to look beyond the food in the supermarket and not be afraid to explore ingredients that may be nutritionally far superior. The Indian kitchen is already home to wonderful ingredients such as jaggery, millet, coconut oil and atta- the arrival of books such as these, touting these very foods, makes it more likely that they will be widely available in the US in the near future. This book is also encouraging me to look beyond ingredients that are familiar to me, and I hope to cook with quinoa, amaranth flour and miso in the coming months. Best of all, the recipes in the book are all vegetarian.

Today, I am making a simple and satisfying noodle soup from Super Natural Cooking. The new ingredient that I discovered via this recipe is udon noodles, a flat, beautifully geometrical wheat noodle that comes from Japanese cuisine and is cooked in a hundred different ways. I found a packet at Whole Foods.

I am slowly starting to discover, learn and love many cuisines from around the world, but Japanese cuisine remains mysterious and a little intimidating. While Japanese ingredients are being used in this recipe, the soup overall is an Asian hodge-podge, with the Japanese noodles and shoyu (a Japanese soy sauce), fragrant Thai curry paste and a complex blend of flavors- sweet, sour, spicy and salty. The soup does not call for vegetables, but I added some fresh green beans to make this a complete meal.

Curry Noodle Soup

(Adapted from Super Natural Cooking by Heidi Swanson, serves 2-3)

Ingredients:
4 oz udon noodles
2 T peanut oil
2 cloves garlic, minced
1 medium onion, diced
2 t Thai red curry paste
1 C green beans, cut into bite size pieces
1 C tofu cubes
3/4 C coconut milk
2 C water
1 t turmeric powder
2 T shoyu/ soy sauce
1 T sugar
1 T lemon juice
Garnish:
handful of roasted chopped peanuts
slices of scallions/ spring onions
minced cilantro
Method:
1. Boil a large pot of water and cook the udon noodles until barely tender (they will get cooked further in the hot soup). Drain them and set aside.
2. Meanwhile, heat the oil and saute onion and garlic until fragrant and starting to brown. Add the red curry paste and stir until aromatic.
3. Stir in green beans and cook until tender.
4. Add tofu, coconut milk, water, turmeric, soy sauce and sugar. Simmer the soup for 10 minutes.
5. Turn off the heat. Add lemon juice and cooked udon noodles.
6. Serve hot, garnished with peanuts, scallions and/or cilantro.

Heidi calls this a "slurp and slop bowl" which describes this noodle soup just perfectly! This steaming bowl is definitely a delicious soup for any season, but with its spicy kick and delicious addictive taste, it could also be called street food...I imagine that such soups are sold by street vendors in many parts of South-East Asia. Next time, I will try cooking the noodles directly in the soup instead of cooking them in another pot. The soup is "soupy" enough that I think this might work. It will save the time and fuel needed to boil a large pot of water, plus the noodles might absorb even more flavor. I loved the silky yet toothsome taste of the udon noodles and look forward to using them in some traditional Japanese ways. Anyone have a favorite recipe with udon noodles?

This big bowl of soup is my entry to the Second Annual Super Soup Challenge over at the blog Running with Tweezers.

Express Bites: Fried Rice & Glazed Tofu

This is my entry for Mallugirl's Summer Express Cooking Event. The challenge is to make a complete meal in 30 minutes or less! Here is my express post for an express event...
The plan: Reincarnate 3 cups of left-over cooked brown rice (cooked to perfection in the oven, thanks Alanna!) as a fresh weeknight dinner in 30 minutes


The strategy:
1. Have some fresh vegetables on hand, in this case, carrots, mushrooms, onions, cilantro
2. Keep some convenient pantry items in stock, in this case, extra-firm tofu, canned coconut milk and canned Thai red curry paste

The menu: Saute the vegetables with cooked rice to make a quick "fried" rice. Serve with tofu glazed with a spicy coconut sauce. Idea for tofu: The Wednesday Chef's post, Deborah Madison's recipe.

Let the cooking begin!
0-5 mins:
* Pull out tofu, mushrooms, carrots, cilantro, cooked rice from the fridge
* Drain tofu, cut the block into 12 slices or so. Lay the tofu slices in layers of clean dishcloth/ paper towels to remove excess water
* Wash mushrooms and carrots

5-10 mins:
* Heat a wok/ pan with 1 t oil. Heat 1 T oil in a separate non-stick skillet.
* Slice onions, dice mushrooms and carrots
* Saute the onions in the wok for a couple of minutes, then add the rest of the veggies and let them cook.

10-15 mins:
* Lay the tofu slices in a single layer and let them brown on one side
* In a small bowl, mix 1/2 C coconut milk, 1/2 cup water, 2 T soy sauce, 1 T lemon juice, 2 t Thai red curry paste (or to taste), 1 t sugar

15-20 minutes:
* Add brown rice and 2 T soy sauce to the veggies, stir well, cover and let the rice heat up (no need to add salt)
* Turn the tofu over and let it cook on the other side

20-25 mins:
* Turn off heat on the rice. Stir in lots of freshly ground pepper and a handful of minced cilantro
* Pour the sauce mix into the tofu. It will bubble up and start cooking down. Turn over the tofu once, to allow it to be glazed on both sides. Turn off the heat when the sauce has cooked down a bit.

25-30 mins:
* Set places at the dinner table. Serve the tofu on a bed of rice. Spoon extra sauce over the tofu.

Enjoy!

This meal is being updated in the list of brown rice ideas on this post.

For dozens of fantastic ideas for express meals of every category, check out Shaheen's round-ups here and here.

Playing with Pasta: Spicy Thai Linguine

Every month, Meeta hosts an enjoyable event called the Monthly Mingle, where bloggers gather together for a potluck based on a theme. This is my entry to this month's event, which is based on the theme "Spring is in the Air". Here I am, celebrating the season's bounty.

In St. Louis, a frigid winter has finally given way to warmer weather that seems to be rushing headlong into summer. This can only mean one thing: time to hurry to the Farmer's market. In my few short months in this city, I have already fallen in love with Soulard Market. The Mississippi river which laps at the foot of St. Louis, bisects the USA, dividing the country into East and West and giving St. Louis the nickname Gateway to the West. Soulard Market is considered to be the oldest Farmer's Market west of the Mississippi, i.e., in the Western half of the United States.

A couple of days ago, my dear friend Cathy was visiting us for the weekend. Other people take their out-of-town visitors to local museums and monuments, but when two foodies get together, the logical thing to do is to head out to the local markets, and early on Saturday, we made a beeline for Soulard Market. The weather was warm and perfectly gorgeous, everyone was in a good mood, and the market was humming with activity. Next time, I'll get some pictures to show you all...this time I was too busy enjoying the company and soaking in the atmosphere to take the camera along.

Anyway, from the rows and rows and rows of colorful produce, I bought green beans and yellow peppers, asparagus, zucchini, mustard greens, and bags and bags of other fruits and vegetables. We also made a stop at the cutest pasta stand: Pappardelle's. This artisanal pasta company is from Denver, Colarado, but they have a year-round stall at Soulard market. They specialize in dried flat pasta with the most incredible flavors...such as orange-schezuan linguine, chipotle-pepper fettucine, and even a dark chocolate linguine! They also have dried flavored blends of pasta, including some really unusual fruit pasta flavors (raspberry penne, anyone?). Anyway, after much deliberation, I settled on the Spicy Thai Linguine.

Back home, I had to wonder, what was I going to do with this beautiful pasta? As luck would have it, my pantry was stocked with a can of coconut milk and a jar of Maesri Thai red curry paste, thanks to inspiration from Sandeepa's post. I put these ingredients together and came up with this dish, which was ready in minutes!

Spicy Thai Linguine

(makes 3-4 servings)
1. Prep the veggies: You can use any assortment of vegetables that you have on hand. This is what I used. Clean and dice the following vegetables...1 large yellow pepper, 1 zucchini, 1 carrot. Finely chop 4-5 green onions (green and light green parts only).
2. Cook the pasta: Boil a large pot of water. When it comes to a rolling boil, salt generously and add 1/2 pound of linguine. Stir around and let the pasta cook for 7-9 minutes, or until al dente. Drain into a colander.
3. Make the sauce: While the water for the pasta is coming to a boil, start the sauce. Heat 1 tbsp oil in a large skillet or wok on medium-high heat. Add the diced vegetables and stir-fry until barely tender. Now stir in 1 1/2 cups of coconut milk, 1 tsp red curry paste and salt to taste. Simmer for 5 minutes. Taste the sauce and add more curry paste if desired.
4. Assemble: Stir the cooked drained pasta into the sauce and toss well. Turn off the heat. Stir in 2 tbsp fresh lemon/ lime juice and the chopped green onions for garnish. Serve right away.

The verdict: Amazing, amazing. I can't even tell you how much we enjoyed every bite of this impromptu meal. The canned curry paste makes it all too easy, and the result is too creamy, colorful and flavorful for words.

Variations:
1. The spicy Thai linguine made this meal extra special, but I am sure that unflavored pasta that is much more readily available would be great too...just be sure to add a little more of the curry paste.
2. One could play around endlessly with this dish, adding different vegetables (green beans and pineapple is what I will try next), different curry pastes (green, yellow), different garnishes (fresh basil, cilantro) and other additions (fried baked tofu or mock chicken strips).

I'm going to pick up a different flavor of pasta from Soulard every time I visit, and keep experimenting with these wonderful flavors. Here is another one of their pastas that Karen tried...it looks sooo good!

Thank you, Meeta, for hosting this lovely event! I shall be back on Sunday, with the O of Indian Vegetables.