Saturday, December 19, 2009

Thai inspired soup with Chinese cabbage, baby corn, soba noodles and mushrooms and snowed in

The forecast on Friday was calling for a foot or more of snow from midnight all through Saturday. The kids are ecstatic, DD has already made several trips outside and as is her hobby of the moment taking pictures.Her unscientific measurement says we have got 7inches of snow already. People from the mid west and up north laugh at the way we deal with snow. We deal with snow by making a run of the grocery stores and stocking up on bread, milk and toilet paper. Why toilet paper have no idea. Am I well stocked up? Yes but not because of the weather.



Early in the morning, 6 inches of snow


I was getting into a funk earlier in the week with the overcast skies and the mercury dipping. It is this time of the year when I wonder what I am doing in a faraway cold country and then get into a deeper funk. The best medicine to treat this particular kind of funk is to get out and be active which is exactly what I did followed by a visit to the library where I caught sight of a glorious Thai soup on the cover of Vegetarian Times. Just the thing for the weather and the mood. I made a bee line to the international market and stocked up on some veggies. The Thai soup had green, Swiss Chard to be exact but I caught sight of some lovely fresh Chinese(Shanghai) cabbage and decided to make use of them. I did not have a paper to jot down the recipe from the magazine so this not the exact recipe that was on there but my own with the ingredients I had on hand. That is how I ended up with a well stocked refrigerator to wait out the snow storm. But being a Washingtonian we also made sure we have enough milk and bread. As for toilet paper we were already well stocked.



Few hours later, a foot of snow


DD just reported there is one foot of snow and we have another 6-12 hours to go before it finally stops. So that is an additional 4 inches from the time I started to write this post, in the meantime we had breakfast and made some kollu rasam. We have enough left overs from dinner last night when we had some relative/friends over.


still going strong



How is the weather in your neck of the woods?














Chinese cabbage


Clear soups are a favorite in our house. I rarely buy Tofu but it was perfect in this soup. There was no need to add salt because of the fish and soy sauce.






Soup with Chinese cabbage, mushroom, baby corn and soba noodles
Ingredients
1. 4 Cups of low sodium chicken stock
2. 1/2 of an onion sliced
3. 1 packet dried mushroom or fresh
4. 1 tin of baby corn drained and washed
5. 4 heads of Chinese cabbage washed thoroughly separated and sliced (regular cabbage cut into big slices would work as well)
6. 1 1/2 cups of cooked soba noodles
7. 4-6 garlic cloves mashed and cut
8. 2 tsp of freshly grated ginger
9. 1 tbsp of bruised lemon grass (optional)
10. 1 tbsp of Thai chili paste (I used Maesri brand)
11. 1 tsp fish sauce (optional)
12. 2 tsp of soy sauce (optional)
13. 8 shrimp (optional)
14. Extra firm Tofu cut into cubes
15. coriander leaves

Method
1. In a heavy bottomed pan heat oil and saute the onions till they are soft, add the garlic and saute for a few minutes. Meanwhile set a sauce pan with the chicken stock, add the lemon grass and let it come to a boil and separately cook the soba noodles.
2. Add the Chinese cabbage and chili paste and saute (I loved the smell of the sauteing Chinese cabbage like boiling peanuts) for about 5 minutes.
3.Add the mushrooms and baby corn and saute till the cabbage has wilted. If adding shrimp add it now and saute for a minute and fish it out.
4. Add the soy sauce and fish sauce if doing so.
5.Remove the lemon grass and add the stock to the vegetables and let it come to a boil.
6. Add the shrimp,sliced Tofu and coriander leaves a couple of minutes before turning off the heat.

13 comments:

  1. Soup looks warm and comforting for the kind of snow you have had.

    In Seattle it does not snow much but due to the climate changes we get them almost every year now for about a day or two. We had a very bad winter last year and the city wasn`t prepared for it and it was a total mess. We couldn`t move out of our homes. Last week was really bad with the Artic chill but we are OK this week with our rains coming back.

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  2. During weather like this, soup sounds very comforting. Enjoy your weekend.

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  3. We have very dreary weather this weekend too, a few snowflakes but NOTHING like what you have! I have friends coming over and am planning several hot spicy colorful dishes as an antidote to the weather.

    That Thai-inspired soup looks so good, just the thing to beat winter blues. I don't make nearly enough clear soups and now this one is on my list.

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  4. You guys got more snow, but we are not too good either. Morning it looked like all that forecast would turn out wrong and we had plans for dinner at a friend's an hour away.
    Good that we stayed in, it started snowing heavy from afternoon. Right now I am feeling pretty low

    That clear soup would be great if someone could get me a bowl :)

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  5. Dear ISG,

    I haven't been here in so long, I am ashamed and hardly feel fit to comment but I will anyway :)

    Your soup looks perfect for the snowy day -- and that lovely snow is headed this way. You can guess what I am cooking in the soup pot in anticipation. m has a new friend over here tonight and when he walked in he said -- do I smell CUMIN and CHILLIES?? Yes you do, that and then some :)

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  6. That's one yummy looking soup. The last picture actually made me slurp :) . This is a perfect soup for the weather you are having. I tasted a similar looking soup at a Thai restaurant near my place and loved it. Enjoy the snow :)

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  7. My favorite part of this soup is the shrimp...... Cool! or rather HOT!!!

    Ash....
    (http://asha-oceanichope.blogspot.com/)

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  8. That is such a wonderful soup, perfect for this time!I really like Veg Times.It is a great food magazine!My sis in law in DC was saying they had about 20".In PA we had about a foot.It was more down South though..

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  9. LOL. tjat os exactly how the Seattelites deal with snow too, life comes to a stand still here. We haven't had a snow day yet this year, still waiting for one. Preferably in Jan, when we can really use a break :)
    Happy holidays to you and the family Indo!

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  10. This soup looks so warm and comforting! Such clear soups are my favorites too, though I usually make them vegetarian (except for the fish sauce). Yours looks delicious, I so want to grab a bowl of this and enjoy right now! I love thai flavors and what better than a bowl of this soup to beat the winter dread :)

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  11. Those pics make our "cold" weekend pale in comparison! The soup looks nice and warming - I have had Tom Yum Soup three times just in the past week - love the fiery taste in winter

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  12. mmm lovely soup. I have seen quiet a few recipes here using fish sauce. Never tried it. The snow is bit alarming when I think about the temperatures! Just came back from the most divine and wonderful place I have ever visited on a 6 day stay. Will write about it in a day! Have a wonderful and prosperous New Year! Wishies to your wonderful family too :)

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  13. Looks delicious! thanks for the posts

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