Miso Soup
Serves 4
I love soup and so do my boys. This one is pretty easy and tastes wonderful. It reminds me of when I first tried miso soup while on an amazing teaching opportunity in Singapore.
Where do travelers go to have good local food at a reasonable price in Singapore? That was the question I asked myself on the flight there. I’d already been told that Singapore was expensive. The answer was quite simple, hawker centers, also known as food courts. At these down-to-earth, culinary destinations, you can find a wide variety of local dishes such as Chicken Rice, Fried Kway Teow, Hokkien Mee, Bak Kut Teh, Satay, Laksa, Chilli Crab, vegetarian Yong Tau Fu, and miso soup.
Despite the low prices (from $2.50 to $5.00), the quality of food is amazing. Many food connoisseurs in Singapore frequent the best food courts in town for their favorite indulgence. Who can resist the lure of the delicious satay at Chomp Chomp Food Centre or the tasty, Michelin starred chicken rice at Maxwell Road Hawker Centre? With hundreds of food courts and thousands of food stalls in Singapore to choose from, you can have a fabulous meal at a very low price. As an added bonus, you get to watch the chef make your dish. I watched my miso soup being made from scratch the night I ordered it. It was like watching an amazing episode of Chopped.
My version takes into account items you might have at home and what can be bought at your local food store or Asian market. Go on, give it a try. It’s delicious.
Ingredients:
9 cups low sodium chicken stock
4 cloves of garlic, peeled and crushed
3 tablespoons red miso
1 1 inch piece of fresh ginger, peeled and grated
1 teaspoon anise seeds, crushed
1 teaspoon Szechuan peppercorns, crushed
1 teaspoon onion powder
8 oz ground chicken (free range if possible)
8 oz fresh egg noodles
2 cups baby spinach or 2 cups bean sprouts or one of each
½ cup cilantro picked cilantro leaves
1 tablespoon roasted peanuts, crushed (optional)
How to make:
Take a large sauce pan and add the first seven ingredients. Whisk and place the pan on the stove over a high heat. Bring to a boil, and then turn the heat down to a simmer. Cook for 10 minutes. Strain the liquid, and pour it back into the pan. Place back on the stove.
Add the ground chicken meat, and cook for 5 minutes. Stir to break up the meat. Mix in the noodles and spinach. Cook for another 5 minutes. Divide between four warm soup bowls. Scatter over the cilantro leaves and peanuts. Enjoy.