Posts Tagged ‘soup’

  1. Made in Jiānádà: Lanzhou Lāmiàn (broth!)

    June 30, 2012 by MaryAnne

    The Super-Sized dinner version

    This is part 2 in my noodle series. Part 1 (the hand pulled noodles) is here.

    This is quite possibly the best broth in the whole universe. Except, perhaps, for a fine Tom Yam with all the bark and twigs still nestled at the bottom of the bowl. This one has its own mighty collection of bark and twigs, and plays the role of hearty autumn and winter to Thailand’s fierce summer in the Cartesian dialectic of soup broths.

    This is a broth that will make you pick up the bowl and sip away at the broth until it’s gone, leaving only a few stray chili seeds at the bottom, long after the noodles and greens have been spooned/chopsticked away.  The rich beefy scent, umami’d up to the hilt with soy, garlic, star anise and cinnamon, needs to be brought up close to your nostrils as you sip. The chilies and garlic will sternly resolve any colds you may have stubbornly residing in your system.

    Keep a few Tupperware containers of this stuff in your freezer for a cold, rainy day, then note how your mood significantly lifts after you heat up a bowl of it. Seriously. This stuff is mood altering, up there with crack and bath salts. (more…)

    Category Made in Jianada, Soupy Stewy Things, Spicy Things, Uncategorized | Tags: ,,,,,, | 7 Comments

  2. Caldo Xochitl Tom Ka Gai (the Chicken Soup Remix)

    May 1, 2012 by MaryAnne

    For best effect, take a spoonful of rice and dip it in the broth. Eat. Repeat.

    This one started out as just a sauce, intended to use up the tin of coconut milk that had been hanging out in our cupboard for at least the past six months.  The recipe had promised me a multitude of uses- drizzled in soup, swirled into eggs, spooned into spring rolls. It was going to be my go-to sauce this week, just as the roasted garlic oil holds a permanent position in the fridge door. (more…)

    Category Improbable Things, Soupy Stewy Things, Spicy Things, Uncategorized | Tags: ,,,, | 5 Comments

  3. Chicken Soup Cure for Sino Black Lung

    November 30, 2011 by MaryAnne

    Add a squeeze of lime and maybe a little cilantro, if you fancy. They both work wonders.

    This was originally going to be my ode to caldo xochitl, the soup I first had in a tiny little cafe in San Cristobal de las Casas about 3 years ago. I should note that thereafter, I had it again in a few dozen more cafes in Mexico and then again in Nicaragua. It revolutionized the concept of chicken noodle soup for me.

    Some versions of it had vermicelli in them, others had pieces of leftover boiled potato. Some were spicier, with wrinkly chipotle peppers to be found floating lopsidedly in the broth. Some were very delicately flavoured. Some had shredded chicken while others sliced it. Some were vegetarian, focusing on starchy squares of orange and yellow gourds. The thing that remained constant was that you added fresh, raw ingredients at the end: minced chilies, pieces of avocado, freshly squeezed lime juice, salsa fresca, vinegared onion, cilantro. It made for a wonderful contrast.

    We have been making this at home here in Shanghai since we arrived- it’s super fast to throw together after a long day in the educational salt mines and it’s great for using up leftovers: a bit of spud here, some chicken there, a quarter of an onion, a fistful of cilantro, etc.

    Unfortunately, that’s not what this post turned into. (more…)

    Category Soupy Stewy Things, Spicy Things, Uncategorized | Tags: ,,,, | 6 Comments

  4. Autumn’ish Roasted Garlic and Pumpkin Soup

    October 15, 2011 by MaryAnne

    Roasted things, cooling. I had them in the oven at 200 degrees for about 25 minutes.

    This one is technically a two-parter, as I made the soup at the same time as I threw together the Xinjiang Irish stew. The stew will come later. I don’t want to confuse everyone with too many different things under one heading.  The pumpkin should suffice.

    Today, Shanghai surprised me on two fronts: first, it’s cool enough now that I wore a sweater when we walked up to the Sichuan place for lunch and had to crunch through a light sprinkling of fallen brown leaves on the road, and second, the sky was…pretty. There was blue in it. Seriously. Patches of blue in the Shanghai sky!  Normally it’s like the skies over the Planet Krikkit.  No point in looking up cos there ain’t nothing to see.

    But look!

    Look at that sky! This was my view through the kitchen balcony's window as I cooked today.

    Our kitchen is tiny, long and narrow, culminating in a semi enclosed mini balcony made of glass and safety railings, which has just a simple cold water utility sink and a corner to store mops and brooms.

    We’re 16 floors up and if you stand in that tiny balcony, you are surrounded on 3 sides by pretty much just glass and open windows overlooking the French Concession. Terrible if you have a fear of heights (which I don’t); wonderful for washing dishes with a view.  Today was so lovely that I voluntarily sequestered myself in the kitchen, scoping out the sky as I chopped a lot of things with my really big knife.

    Let me show you how to make a really easy roasted pumpkin soup in your toaster oven. I did mine at 200 degrees C for about 45 minutes to get it nice and squishy. Easy peasy.

    (more…)

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    Category Soupy Stewy Things, Spicy Things, Uncategorized | Tags: ,,,,,, | 7 Comments