Recipe 32- Hot And Sour Broth with Asian Noodles

Recipe 32- Hot And Sour Broth with Asian Noodles 

If you need a quick and easy throw together meal, then this is it!  

I was shocked when I looked at my clock after cooking and realized it only took maybe 20 mins to get this restaurant quality soup to the table. 

This is what I have been loving about cooking with Chef Michaels book. 

These recipes are not only delicious and healthy, but there are a ton that take minimal time. 

I am a busy mom of 3 little ones and when dinner time hits, its a mad dash to get everyone fed in a timely fashion. 

Now this recipe took some planning. My kitchen has become well equipped with ingredients since the beginning of January this year. But I did not have a lot of these ingredients on hand. 

To start off, I chopped some Shiitake mushrooms and grated one carrot. 

My mom was visiting that day, and was watching me prepare. She said " what is thattttt!?" when she saw the mushrooms. They are a little weird looking and this was the first time I had cooked with them. 

Into a large saucepan I tossed in the mushrooms, carrot, frozen edamame some chicken broth, soy sauce and sambal. 

As you can see in the pic above, I bought the biggest jar of sambal known to man, because that was all that was available. I need to find more recipes for this ingredient, its a spicy chilli paste. I wasn't sure what it would be like, so I did a taste test and wow... yep its hot!  The one teaspoon required gives this soup the perfect "heat" 

While the soup in simmering, I worked on the thickening agent part of the soup. 

I measured out some rice wine vinegar and then some cornstarch. Both are whisked together and then added to the soup. 

I added the cornstarch mixture to the soup and let it simmer a few minutes longer.

This nicely thickens the soup. 

Next in went the Udon noodles. These were completely new to me. I opened the package and gave it a smell. They don't smell weird but they did look like worms haha! 

My oldest daughter pointed that out as they went into the pot. 

To finish off the soup, I added in some sliced green onions and some sesame oil. 

Sesame oil was also new to me and wow, is this stuff ever potent. I tried a little on my finger before pouring it in, and the flavour lingers for a long time. Chef Michael says to freeze a piece of ginger prior to making this recipe. It makes for easier grating. I added some grated ginger and gave it all a stir. 

So as the soup was cooking, I took in all the smells and tasted it a few times. I am going to be honest, I was unsure my kids were going to like this one. It defiantly had a unique taste and I was unsure if it would be something I would even enjoy. While this was cooking I whipped up some pasta and sauce just incase. 

Well to my surprise, when it was all said and done and served up we were ALL pleasantly surprised.

I am not a huge fan of asian style cooking, and really haven't had a ton of dishes. 

My whole family was in love with the flavour of this soup.

Its a perfect balance and the noodles are delicious. They were one of my favourites in this dish. 

My mom said " yes, I could eat a lot of this and make is again at home"

Needless to say, all those extra ingredients will be coming in handy in the future, we will be making this many more times. You can't go wrong with this one, fast and super tasty! 

I really like being pushed to try new things and I love that my kids are getting the opportunity at a young age to branch out and try new things as well.

If this doesn't tell you how good it was, I am not sure what will! 

As always my compliments to the chef and cheers to you, my friends!