Hello everyone! I must apologize that I have missed a couple of posts, not because of anything other than laziness. I thought I had ‘banked’ enough to last me through the weekend but I hadn’t so my blog remained inactive over the weekend. Our wonderful friends Paul and T paid us a visit, arriving on Friday and going back home on Monday. We had a great time, did lots of fun stuff (yes, I’ll blog about that soon) and ate and drank excessively! Now we are recovering until next time!
I’m inspired by many of the blogs I follow, if not for the recipe, but perhaps an ingredient or even a plating, but I know when an inspiration hits me over the stuffed-up head and it resonates throughout the day with a burning desire (no, not THAT!). Kelly over at Inspired Edibles presented this soup at the beginning of the year and it stuck in my head like that song (sorry about that, peeps) and I knew I had to make it, or something like it. I adore the Asian flavours in a soup, add some rice noodles and I’m in Seventh Heaven. It turned out that I didn’t have some of the ingredients for Kelly’s soup, so I had to improvise, but let me tell you it was YUM. That’s Y. U. M. It was like a lemongrass, sweet and sour, vegetable soup, all of the things that make you happy. That’s right, the epitome of Happy Food.
Asian Inspired Soup
Serves 1 in a large bowl (ingredients are just rough, you can use your own taste to determine your version)
Ingredients:
- 1 tsp Sesame oil and a splash of canola oil
- 140 g mushrooms (about 3/4 cup), quartered
- 100 g shrimps and scallops (3 large shrimp and 1 scallop), cleaned and sliced down the middle
- 60 g onions, sliced finely (about 1/4 cup)
- 1 tsp coriander
- 10 g garlic, roughly chopped (2-3 cloves)
- 10 g fresh ginger, roughly chopped (about 2-3 tablespoons)
- 10 g lemongrass, roughly chopped (about 2-3 tables spoons)
- 5 g Galangal
- 2 tbsp lime juice
- 1 tbsp fish sauce
- 2 tbsp Hoisin sauce
- 3 Kaffir lime leaves
- 2 cups vegetable stock
- 1 cup water
- 1 roma tomato, quartered
- handful of rice noodles
Garnish:
- 1/4 cup finely sliced green onion
- pepper flakes
Directions:
- Heat the water in your kettle until boiling. Pour over the rice noodles and allow to sit until they are totally reconstituted, 10-15 minutes. Do not over soak, you want a bit of a bite to it.
- In a large soup pan, heat the two oils until hot but not smoky (the sesame oil has a very low smoke point). Add the onions and stir until slightly translucent. Add the shrimp and scallop and cook lightly. Turn the heat down to a simmer and add the mushrooms. Sprinkle the coriander on the shrimp and onions and stir quickly until aromatic.
- Combine the garlic, ginger, lemongrass and galangal in an infuser (mine is like this) and put it into the soup pan. Add all of the stock and water and add the lime juice, fish sauce, and hoisin saucekafir leaves, galangal, fish sauce, lime juice, and hoisin sauce. Stir well.
- Bring to a very light boil and allow to simmer for about 5-6 minutes (be careful so your shrimp and scallop don’t over cook). Add the tomatoes but don’t overcook, just heat them up.
- Put one third of the cold noodles into a large decorative white bowl. Add ladle-fulls of the soup and garnish with the green onion and pepper flakes. Enjoy.
Cooks tips:
- Store your fresh ginger knobs in the freezer in a resealable container; grate on a fine micro-plane grater when required, you need not peel it! Keeps indefinitely.
- I usually buy a large quantity of lemongrass and chop them finely in my food processor, and then I freeze them in a reusable container. I can usually break off what I need.
- If you are taking the left overs to work, I recommend storing the cooked noodles in a separate container to the soup so that they don’t absorb any more liquid. When you reheat the soup, do so to just before boiling (so the chicken doesn’t cook further) and that way when you put the chilled noodles in, they will cool it down to a palatable level.
- Fish sauce is used in thai cooking instead of salt.
- To save time, I have sometimes used Rosa’s Lime Cordial instead of lime juice, but you have to remember NOT to add the hoisin sauce as that is also sweet.
Lovely soup Eva! I must ask… what is “Galangal”? Where would you buy it? And can you maybe describe the taste?
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Galangal is Thai ginger and it is usually dry; I buy it at my local Asian grocer. It literally looks like little chunks of wood.
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Love the flavours in this soup! I love Asian flavours as it is and this soup looks lovely.
Nazneen
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Thank you kindly Nazneen, it really hit the spot.
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It is so coooold, single digit, I need a bowl of your soup now. Since it is breakfast time I would like a poached egg on top also, please.
Great tips.
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Wow, that sounds incredible Norma, a poached egg on soup! Love it. I think JT would roll his eyes at me (until now, soup for breakfast was unknown to us!)
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Eva, your soup looks delicious. Love all the ingredients together 🙂
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Thank you kindly Judy.
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Sounds like you had a great weekend Eva! I remember this soup. Your version looks equally as wonderful. I’m all for happy food anytime! Hope you’re having a great week. 🙂
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Thank you Kristy, it was -14C (6.8F) today with a good wind chill, this souls have been for today.
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It’s so cold here today, and I would do a lot to get hold of a bowl of this delicious soup.
And missing couple of blog posts is definitely not a reason for any kind of apologizing. Even if it had been laziness, well, we all deserve it every now and then. I am so glad to had fun with friends.
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Thanks Minnie for your lovely words and support, it is as always much appreciated.
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FIrst of all, Eva, there’s no need apologizing. Strange as it may seem, we all have lives outside of the blogosphere. And what better reason for missing a post or two than to spend time with family or friends? I’m glad you had a great time.
Now, about this recipe. It sounds fantastic! Love the idea of a sweet & sour soup and this ingredient list sounds terrific. Great tips, too, about storing the noodles and reheating. Nothing worse than retrieving last night’s tasty soup from the fridge and finding a container of noodles and no broth. Thanks for sharing your recipe, Eva, and welcome back! 😉
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Thanks John, for your lovely words and your kind encouragements.
Yes, indeed this soup is wonderful. BTW, I learned that tip about the noodles the hard way!
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I did miss you but I’m so glad you had a lovely weekend with your friends, Eva. It sounds like such a special time. This soup has all the ingredients in it I love. What a great soup for a cold, rainy night – so warming xx
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Thanks Charlie, yes indeed we had a wonderful time; too much eating and drinking and a lot, and I mean a lot of laughing.
Yes, this soup hits the spot particularly when it is -14°C like it is today!
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Eva this is a wonderful sounding and looking thai-inspired soup that would make it a treat to enjoy in hot and cold weather. And I’m a sucker for any recipe that suggests spicy and hot.
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Thanks Angie, me too.
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We all need a break from time to time, so no apology is necessary, Eva.
Sweet tangy and spicy….must be very delicious.
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Thank you kindly Angie.
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Eva, you are such a prolific blogger, you shouldn’t apologise for such a quick break! This soup looks fabulous; all the ingredients you have put are among my favourite. I also go crazy for Asian soups. Actually I find it more and more difficult not to “Asianise” traditional European soups 😉
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Thank you Sissi, I find myself in the same boat, trying not to Asianise every soup, the flavours are just so fresh and clean, I crave them all the time.
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I enjoy this kind of soup…perfect for our cold weather.
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So true, and today is a perfect day for it, we’re reading -14° C (6.8° F) with snow squalls, and a bitter wind.
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I love this kind of soup its the ultimate comfort food. I could eat it every day. Theres some ingredients I have never put in mine, Ill have to give them a go
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Thank you kindly, it’s a combination of flavours that I find irresistible.
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That is one delicious looking soup. I’ll have to make this next I have an Asian dinner with my friends.
Thanks for the suggestion. Looking forward to your next post.
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Thanks Tudor, it’s a staple in our home, I needn’t consult a recipe any longer! The flavours certainly hit home. I have a few Asian style soups on the blog.
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I have a few dishes that I can do them with my eyes closed.
I’ll check your other Asian recipes. Maybe after the Super Bowl, I’ll have an Asian dinner party.
Thanks for the suggestions. Can’t wait to see some more posts.
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You are very welcome Tudor. I look forward to seeing your posts about your dinner party!
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A late night, no parents home cries out for a soup like this – bookmarked 😀
Cheers
Choc Chip Uru
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Yes, indeed, CCU, this soup is perfect for such a blistering cold day.
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