Hot and Spicy Noodle Soup

Perfect for the wet and cold weather !

I have been feeling rotten for the last couple of days, out sick from work and just feeling miserable because of my head cold.  When I got up in the morning, all I could think of was a Hot Manchow Soup that I used to slurp on in India. But I knew I can't find anything even closer to that here in Dublin, so I had to put a brave face on and make it myself, only to find out I hadn't done fresh vegetable shopping in yonks. So, I took a cup of lemsip, slept for 2 hours, got up and went out to get fresh vegetables from my local Fresh shop. I Love it so bad ! Came home with dozens of freshly picked beauties and couldn't wait to get cooking.  Of course, with many interruptions in between (thanks to my adorable kids), I managed to produce something super comforting, super delicious and my idea of heaven !!

Here is a quick recipe for the Hot Noodle Soup.

Ingredients:

• 3 spring onions - finely chopped, keeping the greens aside for garnishing
• 4-5 cloves of organic garlic - finely chopped
• 1'' fresh ginger - finely chopped
• 1-2 green chillies
• A small bunch of coriander - finely chopped for garnishing
• 1 organic fresh carrot - finely diced
• 1/2 green pepper - finely diced
• 4-5 button mushrooms - finely diced
• 1/2 cup - shredded cabbage
• 4-5 green beans - finely chopped
• 250 gms firm tofu
• 100 gms - eggless noodles
• 4 tbsp - soya sauce
• 2 tsbp - vinegar
• 2 tbsp - red chilli paste
• 2 cubes of Oxo vegetable stock - 1ltr
• 3-4 tsp of cornflour, mixed in with 1/2 cup cold water
• 3 tbsp - roasted peanuts for garnishing
• salt and pepper to taste
• 3-4 tbsp  - peanut oil for frying
• 3-4 tbsp - rapeseed oil for frying tofu

Method:

• Heat up a wok on a high flame
• Once smoking hot, add the oil, add ginger, garlic, spring onions(whites) and saute for 30 seconds
• Add all the chopped vegetables and cook for 2-3 minutes. Make sure not to over cook as we need that lovely crunch.
• Add the chilli paste, soya sauce, vinegar and cook for a minute
• Add the stock and bring it boil
• Add the cornflour and cook for 2-3 minutes more. I like my soup to be slightly thin so I added more water to the cornflour mix. You can vary it according to your liking.
• Add very little salt as both soya sauce and the vegetable stock has salt in them
• Add some black pepper
• Now, in a separate pan, add 3-4 tbsp of rapeseed oil, add the diced tofu and cook for 4-5 minutes until brown n crispy. Add it to the soup
• Cook the noodles according to the package instructions, you can also deep fry noodles for crispier taste. Once everything is well combined, heat the soup thoroughly.
• Serve hot with fresh coriander, green spring onions, peanuts and boiled noodles.
• Enjoy !