Udon Noodle Soup

Hi friends... It has been a long time since I updated the blog with any recipe. Sorry about that. From now on I will try to be regular. Since it is winter and all I want is a hot bowl of soup, I thought why not put up the recipe of this simple yet delicious soup. It if filling but not heavy. Good for dinner or lunch, just add some tofu to it and it is a complete meal. This soup calls for some sea weed and miso. Miso is fermented barley paste. You can get miso from your local Asian stores or whole foods market. There a a few different kinds of miso, but if you haven't tried it please get the white miso, it is very soft in taste, other types may get a bit over whelming. Sea weed can be omitted from the recipe, but this makes the soup a lot flavourful, try using it if you haven't tried it yet.  I have not used udon noodles in this soup [the picture], I ran out of them and had to have this soup, so managed with what i could get from the store near by. If you do not get udon noodles, you can use any thick noodle for this soup. Enough of me yappi'n...So here goes the recipe.

Prep time: 20 mins

Cook time: 15 mins

Ingredients:

1. Udon noodles - 1 bundle, cooked as per the instructions on the bag.
2. spring onions - 1 bunch, finely chopped
3. carrots - 1, peeled and finely chopped
4. Garlic - 3 pods well minced
5. Bell peppers - 1/2 a cup of any or all colours mixed, finely chopped 
6. Sea weed - 1 sheet
7. Miso - 2 to 3 tsp
8. Tofu - 1/2 cup cubes [optional]
9. Oil - 2 tsp
10. White or Rice vinegar - 2 to 3 tsp
11. Soy Sauce - 3 tsp
12. Salt and pepper - to taste
13. Water - enough to make a thin borth of all the ingredients and boil noodles

Method:

• Put the noodles to cook as per instructions on the bag it came in. Make sure to add adequate salt to the water to slat the noodles.
• Heat oil in a pot which can fit in all the ingredients.
• Add garlic, carrots, spring onions, bell peppers one after the other sauteing each for a few seconds till the sweat.
• Add a pinch of salt to let them cook faster.
• Add enough water to make a broth it has to be watery. Let the water come to a boil.
• Now add vinegar and soy sauce and let it cook for a few minutes.
• Now mix miso with a bit of water to make the paste easily soluble in the broth so that it does not form lumps. Make sure you do not make it very watery. Add miso to the broth and let it cook for a few seconds.
• Now tear the sea weed sheet into a few pieces and add to the soup. stir well.
• Add the cooked and drained noodles to the broth stir ... turn the stove off. Taste it if you need salt and pepper.. if you do, this is the time to add it. Miso and soy sauce are pretty salty, you have to be careful with salt when you use both of these ingredients together. let it sit for a few minutes and serve.

Lemon Coriander Soup

I am sure you all must have tasted this delicious soup in some Indo-Chinese restaurants. It is a very simple soup to make it will get ready in about 20 minutes. Add some quinoa/barley into the soup it will become a one pot meal. I tasted this for the first time when our friends Venu and Usha took us to a restaurant near their house. So, without further adieu, i give you the recipe for this light yet satisfying soup.

Perp time: 15 Minutes

Cook time: upto 20 minutes

Serving: upto 3

Ingredients:

1. Lemon Juice - 1/4 cup
2. Coriander - a handful, not too much though.
3. Green chili - 2 to 3 (more if you like it  very hot)
4. Vinegar - upto 3 tsp
5. Garlic - 4 pods grated/minced or upto 3 tsp paste
6. Water - upto 6 cups
7. Tofu - 1 cup diced (optional)
8. Mushroom - 1/2 cup finely chopped
9. Spring onions - 1 bunch, finely chopped
10. quinoa/barley - 1/4 cup (optional) [if you choose to use barley, soak it for 4 hours prior to use]
11. Corn Starch - 2 tsp (use only if not using quinoa or barley)
12. Salt - to taste
13. Oil - 2 tsp

Method:

• Heat oil in a pot which can hold all the ingredients.
• Saute garlic and spring onions for a minute.
• Add Mushroom and saute for a minute.
• Add water and 2 tsp vinegar and add quinoa or barley if you are using them and let it boil. 
• In the mean while, take the coriander, green chili, 1 tsp vinegar and two pinches of salt and make a paste of it.
• Add tofu and the paste to the soup and stir to mix well.
• Now add the paste, salt and boil for 5 minutes.
• If you are not using quinoa or barley, mix the corn starch in cold water and mix it in the soup while adding water in the beginning. 
• Add half of the lemon juice, stir and give it a taste, if it is not sour enough, add more till you get your desired taste. Add salt mix and enjoy this soup hot.

Tip:

If you do not eat green chili, you can eliminate it and use pepper powder instead. just add some cracked pepper in to the soup after it cooks and stir well.

Pineapple Fried Rice

Hmm... Yes, I know, I know... have been lazy again. So to compensate that, I am going to post a mouthwatering, easy recipe which will make good use of left over rice. You can make fresh rice as well, however, this will taste better with a day's old rice. My friend Nivedita told me that she ate this is in KL when she went to visit her brother, since then I had only been dreaming of it's taste, I can make it now :)... to make it more interesting, you can serve it in a cored pineapple half, not only will the presentations look splendid, rice will absorb more flavour. Also you can add soy nuggets or tofu to make it a complete one pot meal.

Prep time: 10 Mins 

Cook time: 10 Mins, (If the rice is ready)
Servings: upto 3

Ingredients:

1. Cooked rice -  2 cups
2. Spring onions - 1 bunch, finely chopped
3. Garlic - 4 pods, minced/grated, or 2 tsp paste
4. Ginger - 1 tsp grated/minced or 1/2 tsp paste
5. Pineapple - Fresh 1 cup coarsely chopped or 1 14oz can pieces
6. Tofu - diced, 1 cup (Optional)
7. Soy sauce - 2 tsp if dark if a lighter use a bit more
8. Red chili flakes - 1/2 tsp or to taste
9. Salt - to taste
10. Sugar - 1 tsp (optional)
11. oil - 1 tbsp
12. Turmeric - 1 pinch

Method:

• Heat oil in a wok or a vessel which can fit all the ingredients.
• Add ginger and garlic and saute for a few seconds and add finely chopped spring onions, keep sauteing for a minute.
• Mix soy sauce, chili flakes, salt, turmeric and sugar in a small cup and set aside.
• Add pineapple and saute for a minute. Saute Tofu for a minute as well.
• Add rice and mix all the ingredients together
• Add the sauce mixture to the wok and mix till everything is well blended.
• Serve and eat hot. 

Suggestions:

As I suggested earlier, you can serve this rice in a cored pineapple half..yummm!! 

Tips:

You can add 1/8 tsp of pineapple essence to the dish, it will make the entire preparation smell more pineappily :)

Sushi

Need I say more? Sushi in Japanese means vinegared rice, contradictory to wide belief that it is "raw fish". The thing about sushi is except the rice everything else is raw in it. Sometimes the "nori", which is sea weed used is roasted. I am totally in love with this. I can eat it anytime anywhere. The wasabi and ginger served with this makes it more kickin' ... In my experience with wasabi, it can clear the most severe of sinus blocks... the kick it packs is out of this world... You won't be able to handle it unless you take a bite of vinegared ginger along with wasabi.  To drink you must try "sake" rice wine... it is sort of sweet and tart at the same time, best had when warm. We tried suhi in a Korean restaurant once which was good then we had sushi in a vegan restaurant and fell in love with it. If you ask me, I fall in love with tasty food very easily, my weakness I suppose. So let me not dealy anymore in giving out the recipe of Sushi..

Prep time: 45 mins

cook time: 25 mins for rice

Servings: 24 pieces

Ingredients:

1. Rice - 2 cups, use very starchy rice.

2. Nori sheets - 4 [sea weed sheets, I bought them at whole foods store]

All Raw vegetables are Julienne sliced. Julienne is nothing but match stick thin slices. You can use a wide array of vegetables. Do not use something like potato or starchy ones. There is already rice in it. You can also use flavoured or just plain firm tofu...

3. Carotts: 2

4. Red bellpepper - 1/2

5. Green bell pepper - 1/2

6. Avacado - 1

7. Spring onions - 1 bunch

8. Ready wasabi paste or powder[prepare it according to insturctions on the box] or a horse radish (which has to be peeled, chopped and run in the blender to make a paste. Add a little salt, sugar and vinegar)

7. Raw ginger - 1 medium sized piece

8. Rice vinegar or white vinegar - up to 3/4 cup

9. Sugar - 4 tsp

Method:

Cooking rice:

• Wash rice and put it in a filter to drain all the water and let it stand for an hour.
• Now boil 4 cups of water in a vessel in which you would cook rice. 
• Add rice and cook till well done and all water gets evaporated.
• After the rice cooks, transfer it into a large plate in which you can move it easily.
• Mix 2 tbsp of vinegar and 2 tsp sugar till all the sugar dissolves.
• Add 1 tbsp of this sugar-vinegar mixture and thoroughly mix in the rice by fannig on the rice with one hand. If you have a table fan, then switch it on and mix the rice and vinegar.
• After 1 tbsp of it is incorporated, add the next tbsp and repeat the process till rice and vinegar gets mixed well. The point of the whole fanning process is to get the water to evaporate from rice faster and making rice more workable, this process makes rice sticky and soft enough to hold any shape you make it in to and cuts easily. Set this aside and let it completely cool. Keep in mind, you don't have to use all the vinegar. If you think rice is getting watery, stop using Vinegar.

To prepare Ginger:

• Boil 1/2 cup vinegar and 2 tsp sugar in a pot till sugar dissolves in it. cool completely before using.
• Younger the ginger root the better. 
• Wash the ginger root and peel out it's skin and throw it away
• Now peel ginger in to strips, add it to cooled vinegar sugar mixture.
• Soak it atleast 2 hours before you would use it.

How to roll Sushi?

There are a lot of  videos, this one I found was most user friendly for beginners. She demonstrates with a rolling mat, Actually you don't need one, I did not use one, your bare hands are perfect to roll them.... I made them for the first time, the ones in the picture, not so professional looking... but with practice they will get better... So do not fret too much when they do not turn out to be a perfect shape. They don't hold the shape inside your mouth now, do they? LOL! I am posting a video here as watching it makes it very clear than reading about it... you can google further for more interesting informative videos... This is a very fun recipe to try with kids...Make and enjoy.

 

Serving suggestions:

Sushi becomes so much better with wasabi and vinegared ginger... please try it. The possibilities with sushi are just endless. You can add cucumber, zucchini and many such veggies. Try and experiment. This dish can be experimented a lot with.

Tips:

Never soak the nori sheet with water, it will tear. when you use water to wet your hands, make sure not even a drop lands on the nori sheet. Keep dipping the knife in water while you cut these rolls, or all the rice will stick to the knife making it impossible to cut further and all your rolls will go bad.