Asian Noodle Soup ~ The Complete Savorist

Growing up in Little Saigon (Garden Grove/Westminster, CA), I have had my share of pho, the traditional Vietnamese noodle soup. I’ve never attempted to make this soup. I will make it someday. Some say it is easy, others say it is hard to get the flavors just right. We shall see. In the meantime, while I drag my feet in learning how to make this delicious, soul-satisfying dish, I’ve concocted my own Asian flavored noodle soup. For years I used ramen noodles. You know those 10¢ or are they now 25¢, package of overly processed noodles with little packets of msg that I love dearly. But in an effort to eat better, I started buy packages of rice noodles that I could grab off the Asian aisle of my local market. But the flavor with those was not quite right. Maybe I had just become accustomed to the taste and texture of packaged ramen?

Then I remembered we had a Korean market in town that sells some generic Asian ingredients with their Korean ingredients that one might need for cooking a generic Asian dish. This store is tiny and the people there are wholly unfriendly. Not my favorite place to go. But, they did have an entire section of noodles. After inspecting them like I knew what I was looking for, I settled on a green package (my favorite color), 3mm width (a favorite number) with package writing in Vietnamese that said Pho…sold.

Turns out my advanced criteria for noodle selection was spot on. These noodles replaced the hole in my heart that cheap ramen noodles left behind. I realize not every town has their very own Asian market. But I do live in a very small college town and if we have one, the odds are ever in your favor. I have gone to 4 of the 6 grocery stores in town and found they all had a noodle comparable to the one I found at the Asian market. Turns out Wal-Mart was the only place that had the crappy selection of Asian noodles.

If you use ramen noodles, use 3 packages of chicken flavor omit the bouillon listed below and use 2 of the 3 included seasoning packets.

To keep this dish gluten free, use tamari, the gluten free soy sauce.

This recipe was featured on DIY Gluten Free Tuesdays Link Party.

Asian Noodle Soup

Author: Michelle

Ingredients

10 cups water
6-8 green onions; sliced
1/4 + tsp ginger; dried/ground/grated
1 tbsp fish sauce
1/8 + cup soy sauce/tamari
11/2 tbsp garlic chili sauce
11/2 tbsp chicken bouillon
3 garlic cloves; grated/minced
11/2 tbsp cilantro; finely chopped
2 carrots; sliced
8 oz mushrooms; sliced
1 small onion; diced
4 cups +/- chicken; cooked/shredded
2 cups frozen cooked shrimp; tails removed
Salt and Pepper to taste
1/2 package (7-8 oz) rice stick noodles

Instructions

In a large soup pot, bring water to boil, add green onions, ginger, soy sauce, fish sauce, chili sauce, bouillon, garlic, and cilantro.
Bring back to a boil.
Add carrots, onions, and mushrooms, bringing it back to a boil, then reduce and simmer.
Taste the broth, adjust seasonings, adding more ginger, fish, soy, or chili sauce as needed for personal taste.
Add noodles, chicken and shrimp, allow to simmer about 10 minutes or until the noodles are cooked.
Garnish with freshly chopped green onions and cilantro.
Plus I love a bit is Sriarcha to top it all off! Enjoy.
Optional add ins: broccoli, peas, water chestnuts, celery, bean sprouts, or any other veggies you enjoy.
Switching out your main protein is also easy to do, use beef broth and über thinly sliced sirloin that you put in the hot boiling broth to cook, the possibilities are endless.
* In the pictures, I plated it with less broth so the ingredients would stand out.