Spicy Noodle Soup Recipes

SPICY NOODLE SOUP

Steps:

• Make spice paste:
• Preheat oven to 300°F.
• Wrap blacan tightly in a piece of foil and roast in middle of oven 10 minutes. Unwrap and cool. Discard tough outer leaves of lemongrass and trim root ends. Thinly slice lower 6 inches of stalks. Fold upper stalks into thirds and tie into a bundle with kitchen string. In 2 batches, purée blacan, sliced lemongrass, and remaining spice paste ingredients in a mini food processor until almost smooth.
• Make noodle soup:
• Soak bean-curd puffs in hot water in a bowl, weighted with another bowl of water to keep puffs immersed, 20 minutes. Squeeze as much water as possible from puffs and halve diagonally. While puffs soak, simmer chicken in stock in a saucepan, turning occasionally, until just cooked through, 12 to 15 minutes, and cool chicken in a bowl. Pour stock through a fine sieve into another bowl. Discard chicken skin and bones and shred or slice chicken. Blanch bean sprouts in a pot of boiling water 15 seconds and drain well.
• Heat oil in a 6- to 7-quart heavy pot over moderate heat until hot but not smoking and stir in spice paste. (Oil should be hot enough for spice paste to sizzle when added.) Cook, stirring constantly, until spice paste begins to stick to bottom of pot, 8 to 10 minutes. (Oil will separate out, and mixture will appear curdled. Paste will reduce and turn a shade darker; do not let brown.) Add coconut milk, sugar, stock, and lemongrass bundle and bring to a simmer, stirring. Stir in puffs and gently simmer 20 minutes. Stir in shrimp and simmer until just cooked through, 1 to 2 minutes. Stir in chicken and salt to taste.
• While laksa simmers, bring a large pot of water to a boil for noodles. If using fresh noodles, cook 1 minute and drain well, rinsing briefly under water if sticking occurs. If using dried noodles, cook according to package directions. Divide noodles, bean sprouts, shrimp, chicken, and puffs among 4 deep bowls and ladle laksa broth over.

SPICY COCONUT NOODLE SOUP

Steps:

• Heat a saucepan, then fry the curry paste for 1 min. Add the coconut milk and half a can of water, then bring to the boil. Simmer for 5 mins until slightly thickened.
• Throw in the mushrooms and simmer for another 2 mins. Stir in the drained noodles, beansprouts and most of the chilli and spring onions, then heat for another min. Serve in deep bowls, scattered with the rest of the chilli and onions.

SPICY NOODLE SOUP

Steps:

• Heat broth to boiling in Dutch oven.
• Stir in remaining ingredients except cheese; reduce heat to medium.
• Cook 5-6 minutes, stirring occasionally, until noodles are tender.
• Sprinkle with cheese.

SPICY NOODLE SOUP WITH MUSHROOMS AND HERBS

Steps:

• Heat oil in a large, heavy-bottomed pot or Dutch oven over medium heat. Add garlic and shallots, and season with salt and pepper. Cook, stirring occasionally, until shallots start to turn a nice golden brown, 3 to 4 minutes. Add mushrooms and half the chile, and season with salt and pepper.
• Cook, stirring occasionally, until the mushrooms have softened, released much of their water and turned a deep golden brown, 10 to 15 minutes. (A browned mushroom will have infinitely more flavor than an unbrowned mushroom, because the water inside it evaporates and the flavor concentrates. So do not skip this step.)
• Add 1/2 cup soy sauce, 1/4 cup vinegar and 8 cups of water. Bring to a gentle simmer and season with salt and pepper. Continue to simmer until the flavors have melded and the broth tastes good enough to drink (you will be drinking it), 15 to 20 minutes. Season with more soy sauce and vinegar as you like.
• Meanwhile, cook the noodles in a large pot of salted boiling water until just al dente. (The timing will depend on the type and brand of noodles, so consult the package.) Add the noodles to the pot with the broth, and let them hang out in there for a minute or two to finish cooking and soak up all that flavor.
• To serve, use tongs to divide the noodles and mushrooms among bowls, then ladle the hot broth over the top. Serve with the remaining chile, the herbs and the sesame seeds and oil (if using) for people to dress their own bowls to their liking.

DAVE'S SPICY NOODLE SOUP

Steps:

• If you prefer, you can substitute chinese pork meatballs for the chicken, and if so, just skip the roasted chicken steps below. Also a great base for Wonton Soup, just make wontons you like and use the stock.
• Purchase a small frier no more than 4 pounds rub the skin with salt, pepper and garlic powder and roast in an oven at 425 for 1 hour, skin on. (Use a thermometer on the chicken, it should be about 160 degrees when done). If you are not using a whole chicken, cut the weight down to about 2 pounds as I did in the updated recipe.
• Once chicken is done, cut into pieces and remove skin and bones. (You may prefer to just use a few skin on chicken breasts with no bones to make this easy.).
• In a pot, saute the garlic in the oil. Just heat through, don't brown it or burn. About 1 minute.
• Slice the Mushrooms before adding to stock in the next step.
• Place all the chicken (except what you steal since it smells so good) into a large pot with the six cups of broth and all remaining ingredients.
• Simmer for about 10 minutes.
• Add rice noodles and cook for about another 10 minutes (just the duration of the time on the package for cooking the noodles) and serve. Note, use FRESH noodles, not dry. If you use dry, as many folks have commented, it will overwhelm the soup. I have adjusted the recipe to reflect this fact. I always use fresh.