Cuisine Quest

Mom’s Special Noodle Soup

I love to prepare this dish for special occasions like birthdays, Christmas, Chinese New Year or whatever red letter day there is marked on the calendar.

Since I learned this recipe at a very young age, I can memorize the ingredients by heart and now I am going to share this recipe with you and I hope you will try it!

Yield 12 servings

The noodle topping can be made one or two day ahead, keep in the refrigerator.  Reheat prior to serving it.

Noodle Topping

Ingredients:

• 1 tablespoon vegetable oil
• 6 cloves garlic, smashed and minced
• 8 oz chicken thigh, cut into 1/4 inch squares
• 10 oz pork shoulder, cut into 1/4 inch squares
• 12 oz shrimp, peel and devein then cut into 1/4 inch square.  Reserve all the heads and shells
• 1 1/2 cup chicken broth, preferably homemade or if store bought opt for low sodium
• 2 tablespoons sweet soy sauce
• 2 tablespoons fish sauce
• 2 teaspoon sugar
• 6 green onions or scallions, utilizing just the white part, finely sliced
• salt and pepper to taste

Directions:

1. Heat the skillet then add the vegetable oil.  When oil is heated sauté garlic until light brown.
2. Add diced up chicken and pork, cook until evenly brown.  Season with a dash of salt.
3. Then add shrimp, season with a dash of salt and freshly ground black pepper.  Let cook for 3 minutes.
4. Add the chicken stock then add sweet soy sauce, fish sauce and sugar.  Bring to boil.
5. Add green onions, stir and cover with lid, and let it cook for 30 minutes on low heat.
6. Adjust the salt and pepper to taste. After 30 minutes turn the heat off and set aside.

Soup Base

Ingredients:

• 1 tablespoon vegetable oil
• 2 cloves garlic, thinly sliced
• 2 tablespoons sweet soy sauce
• 3 cups shrimp stock made from the reserved shrimp heads and shells.  Bring 4 cups of water to boil, add the heads and shells, bring to boil, then simmer for 1 hour or reduce to 3 cups of stock
• sugar, salt and pepper to taste
• 2 tablespoon corn starch to thicken the soup base (optional)

Directions:

1. Heat the skillet then add the vegetable oil.  When oil is heated sauté garlic until aromatic.
2. Add sweet soy sauce and swirl around for about 30 seconds just to get it to slightly caramelized.
3. Add shrimp stock by ladle careful not to get the hot oil and sugar from the caramelized sweet soy sauce splattered onto your skin, stir gently  continue adding the shrimp stock then bring to boil.
4. Add sugar, salt and pepper to taste.
5. Dissolve corn starch with water (room temperature), add gradually into the boiling soup base while continue stirring until it reach the level of thickness desired.

How to Serve the Noodle

Ingredients:

• 12 individual portion fresh egg noodles
• crispy fried onion (optional)
• If you prefer some heat, mix 2 tablespoons sweet soy sauce with 4 to 6 bird’s eye chilies, sliced.  Serve it as a condiment to the noodle soup.

Directions:

1. Boil a large pot of water to rolling boil, add the fresh egg noodles (Chinese Style). Follow the directions on the package to see how long to cook. If you are missing the directions, I would remove one noodle with a slotted spoon, run under cold water and taste to see if done. If not done, repeat this every minute or so until they taste cooked. When they are cooked, use the strainer to remove noodle from the pot and let the liquid to drain.  Note: Chinese noodles cook very quickly, generally requiring less than 5 minutes to become al dente.
2. Place noodle in a bowl, add a little bit of cooked spinach or water spinach, add the noodle topping and finally add the soup  base.  Serve hot!
3. Sprinkle some crispy fried onion (optional).