Nigella's Noodle Soup for Needy People

Are you needy? I am. I need lots of things. I need new plates. I need a set of wooden bowls. I need a cast iron dutch oven. I need a new cutting board and it needs to be a BOOS. I need a new outdoor grill. I need at least $500 for all the new cookbooks I want. Along with my grocery list, I have a list of kitchen equipment, specialty foods, and cookbooks. Yes, when it comes to the kitchen I will admit that I am high maintenance.



My name is Kim and I have a problem. No matter how much kitchen related equipment and cookbooks I buy, I always need more! It certainly doesn't help that I work in the mall part-time. I have a great job at Lush Handmade Cosmetics, which is located inside of Macy's. When I close the store at night, I have to take the money upstairs to customer service. Ironically, customer service is located right next to the kitchen/housewares department. This is dangerous. Dangerous for many reasons. Dangerous because I get a discount, but mainly because I have a credit card and I'm alone. You see where I'm going with this, right? I'm like a kid in a candy store, only the candy store is closing, nobody else is in there, and I have free reign. Did I mention that I have a credit card?

Last night, I needed a set of wooden bowls. I had to have them. They were such a good deal, especially with my discount, or at least that's what I told myself.

Feeling needy, I made Nigella's Noodle Soup for Needy People. I adapted the recipe quite a bit (notes below). I also want to share a new item I found at Whole Foods, Dau Miu, otherwise known as snow pea shoots. Info and pictures below.



Here is what they look like out of the package


Nigella's Noodle Soup for Needy People
Serves 2 for supper, very heartily
6 oz udon noodles (dried, from a package)
3 cups chicken, vegetable, or dashi broth
2 tablespoons soy sauce (I almost doubled the soy sauce)
1 teaspoon soft dark brown sugar
1 star anise (I didn't have any, so I omitted)
1 teaspoon minced fresh ginger
3/4 cup bean sprouts (I omitted)
3/4 cup sugar snaps
3/4 cup sliced shiitake mushrooms (I omitted)
1/2 cup finely sliced baby bok choy
2 tablespoons chopped fresh cilantro
I added:
1 large garlic clove, minced
About 1 teaspoon or more red pepper flakes, plus more for garnish
2 sliced radishes
1 sliced green onion
handful of Dau Miu (snow pea shoots)
Roasted chili oil

Cook the noodles according to the package instructions and while their water is boiling, fill a nearby saucepan with stock, soy sauce, sugar, star anise, and ginger. (When the noodles are done, just drain them and put half in each bowl.

When the flavored stock comes to a boil, add the vegetables. They should be cooked before 2 minutes are up.

Pour half into each bowl, over the cooked and drained noodles, and sprinkle with cilantro.



Notes/Results: I've wanted to make this soup for awhile because it always looks comforting. I halved the recipe, using chicken stock, omitting the bean sprouts and mushrooms. I added two radishes, the dau miu, green onion, garlic, lots of red pepper flakes and really upped the quantity of the soy sauce (I'm addicted to sodium). I also tossed the noodles in roasted chili oil before pouring the broth over. This recipe makes a ton of soup. It was pretty tough eating the whole portion, but I was able to pull through! The additions I made to the soup made it pretty spicy and I really enjoyed all the green veggies. I questioned adding the radishes, but they turned out rather nicely. I will definitely be making this soup again with my leftover ingredients. I really enjoyed it.

I'm sending this recipe over to I Heart Cooking Clubs in celebration of soups and stews. I'm also sending a shout out to Deb at Kahakai Kitchen. Deb also made Nigella's Noodle Soup for Needy People this week and her version looks terrific! Head on over to I Heart Cooking Clubs to check out Deb's version and everyone else's soups and stews!