Garlic Ginger Asian Noodle Soup with Tofu
There are few things more comforting to me than a nice big bowl of steaming hot Asian noodle soup… especially on a cold, dreary, rainy winter day. What usually results in a quick, mindless Seamless order from one of my favorite local Thai, Vietnamese or Japanese restaurants, I finally decided to whip up my own makeshift noodle dish, without the extra cost or waste! While this dish was, albeit, not quiiiiiiite as tasty as, say, Little Mo’s vegan pho, it was still pretty damn good, if I don’t say so myself :P Using whatever ingredients I had laying around my kitchen, this garlic ginger asian noodle soup definitely hit the spot - and I’m already looking forward to the next time I make it. Next time I think I will try to add some more greens though!
Again, any veggies you may have will work in this soup, just make sure you keep the broth fairly consistent. So, have fun and get slurping!
Servings: 4-6 (depending on how hungry you are! )
Cooking Time: 1 hour (approx.)
Ingredients
Broth
2 Tablespoons of your favorite vegetarian/vegan Better Than Bouillon. I used their Seasoned Vegetable Base as that’s all my local store carried, but I imagine this would be just as good, if not better, with their No Beef or No Chicken Vegetarian versions as well. I will try this myself, next time!
8 cups of water
2 tablespoons of freshly chopped/minced ginger
2 tablespoons of freshly chopped/minced garlic
3 tablespoons of organic toasted sesame oil
2 tablespoons of soy sauce (or Tamari)
A sprinkle of red chili flakes
A sprinkle of Kosher Sea Salt
A sprinkle of fresh ground black pepper
1 tablespoon of rice vinegar
1 tablespoon of maple syrup/honey/agave (optional)
Other stuff…
1 cup of carrots (chopped)
1 cup of sugar snap peas
1 yellow onion (chopped)
1/2 package of organic extra firm tofu (chopped into squares)
1/2 package of rice noodle sticks
any other veggies you might like!
Directions
Place a large pot on a burner on medium-high heat. Once hot, coat the bottom of the pan with the sesame oil.
Add chopped onions into the pot. Make sure they are all coated with the oil. You may need to keep adding sesame oil to make sure the onions don’t burn. Cook for about 5-7 minutes, until the onions are nearly translucent.
While waiting for the onions to cook, place the dry rice noodle sticks into a ice water bath in a large bowl.
Once the onions are mostly cooked, add the carrots, garlic and ginger. Cook for another 5-7 minutes, adding in more sesame oil as needed. You want to make sure nothing burns!
Add the water and Better Than Bouillon into the pot and adjust the heat to high.
Add the soy sauce, rice vinegar, salt, pepper, chili flakes, maple syrup or sweetener into the pot and stir.
Next, add the tofu and noodles into the pot and cover.
Keep the pot covered and keep the soup simmering until all of the veggies and noodles are soft.
Taste, serve and enjoy!