Hot soup on a summers day

Crispy chicken pesto wrap, roasted garlic and mushroom soup, lemonade slushie

Bun Rieu

Fish Congee

Home sweet home.

Marinate 1 basa fillet. 

sesame oil

white part of scallions, save green for garnish

ginger

1 cup of rice.

Soak it in water for 1/2 hour. Break the grains between your palm.

(optional)

 

 Stock is optional. Chicken would be hearty. I used 2 cups of fish stock.

Boil broken rice with 2 cups stock, 4 cups water.  Gentle rolling boil, stir often to prevent rice sticking and burning.

After refrigeration, the basa chunks were fragrant and this raw concoction reminded me of sashimi, it was delicious.

When rice is soft, stir in fish. Turn heat off.

Had another basa filet. Salt, pepper, olive oil.

Broil for 5 mins per side.

Lunch!

Mushroom Soup

Half a red onion

1 stick of celery

10 mushrooms

salt + pepper 

1 garlic clove 

white wine

1 potato

milk

oil

Chicken Phở

 

I loved Phở when I ate red meat. This is not a dish or just any bowl of soup, it's a meal. Traditionally it uses almost every part of the cow. Bones full of rich marrow make a delicious broth after at least 4 hours of cooking. Rice noodles are then topped off with different cuts of steak, brisket, tripe and beef balls. The simmering broth is what makes Phở so unique and exquisite. However, I have only been eating chicken broth Phở for the past two years. It certainly does not compare to it's beef counterpart but is equally as unique.

On the right is my mother's great big pot of beef stock that has been cooking for hours, to the left is my petite pot of chicken broth with the same spices.

Ingredients:

Star anise

Cinnamon bark

Daikon radish

Ginger root

Onion

Chicken meat

Rice Noodle

Green Onion

Parsley

In boiling water, cook rice noodles until soft.

Add chicken meat, a mixture of brown and white is tasty.

Ladle broth over noodles.

My sister eats beef pho plain like this.

Chop your scallions and parsley.

Sprinkle desired amount over top, usually it's 1tbsp for garnish, I love onions and parsley though.

yum!

Yes something is still missing..

A side dish of basil, bean sprouts, chili, hoisin sauce and hot sauce. A lime wedge would be nice too.

That's more like it!

See? Chicken pho can be amazing!

Fear Not A Cold Winters Day, Soup's On The Way!

Since before I could even cook, I have been making all sorts of cabbage soups. Usually a tomato base with a lot of vegetables that won't gunk up (potatoes especially, corn and peas don't taste good after a day) after a day. Possibly the easiest thing you can make is soup. Throw it all together, fill it up with water. Soup.

My father.. recently went on a strange shopping escapade.. buying 52 cans of soup. The chicken noodle is a classic favorite.. however the beef barley and lentil cans have not been touched. I used 3 cans of the lentils in here.

Chop 2 onions, 4 skinny carrots, 2/3 head of cabbage, 4 tomatoes.
In a large pot at medium high heat, add some olive oil to lightly cover bottom of pot, saute onions and carrots. Sweating them and cover the pot for a few minutes. Add in cabbage and stir. Throw in tomatoes and gently press the tomatoes to release juice. The pot will become dry and your veggies can brown.. water, stock, anything.. But no, not just anything today.. I poured in half a bottle of champagne. Then a small can of tomato paste and lastly, the lentil soups.

Cure to the Common Cold?

Udon topped with crunchy bits, shredded cabbage, kim chi, green onion and a poached egg. All served in dashi broth.

Last night I had gone to sleep with a pounding headache, my neck and shoulders tense. So this morning I woke up to another day with the cold. Needless to say, when you're ill with anything you don't really have the motivation to cook! Especially if you're craving something delicious, you can't bring yourself to execute such complicated tasks. I can't even stand waiting for the water to boil in order to have a cup of tea. Here it is, cooking for the cold.

Ingredients:
-1 pack of udon (comes with soup mix and crunchy bits)
You may not want to use the soup package that comes with the udon because it contains MSG and a lot of salt. A nice alternative is a healthy spoonful of miso paste. A can of msg-free chicken broth is also delicious.
-1 egg, poached
-Add your favorite things. I had half a head of cabbage in the fridge, I shredded about 1/2 cup into my soup. I always have a jar of kim chi in the fridge too, put 1/4 cup that in the soup.
-optional: top your soup with dried nori, green onion, crunchy bits (comes with the udon pack), chili, tempura, bean sprouts, etc..

Boil about 2 cups of water. Add the soup mix, udon and any vegetables. The udon untangles as it boils, but you don't want to break it when separating the strands. Also, you are only warming the udon up, once it untangles, it is done! Do not cook it any longer than that or you're gonna have very mushy glutenous noodles.
I love kim chi! I eat it by it self, with my rice dishes, in salads, and also in soup noodles! I turned off the heat then added the shredded cabbage and kim chi.

Hearty Broccoli & Cheese Soup

Warning: I wanted one bowl of soup... this batch made at least 10 servings.

Firstly, start off with 1 head of fresh broccoli, or 3-4 cups of frozen. Chop the broccoli from tops, and peel away the fibrous stalk and chop that up too! I used 2 chicken bouillon cubes to make about 5 cups of chicken broth, you can use 3 cans of broth.

Boil the chopped broccoli in chicken broth for 15 minutes.
Get busy!

Chop up about 1lb/16 ounces/2 cups of cheese..
Mind you, I found this amount to be overwhelmingly cheesy. Chop up 1 medium onion.

Saute onion in 3 ounces margarine for 5 minutes, stirring constantly. Add in 1/2 cup of flour to onions. Gradually pour in 2 cups of milk and stir until well mixed and thick. (sorry, didn't take many photos) Pour the onion mixture into the broccoli chicken broth. Then the cheese. Turn down to medium low.

Don't let the soup boil or else the cheese will denature. You just want to leave the heat on long enough for the cheese to melt. Serve with ground pepper.