Whenever I make noodle soup, the default flavours I go for are Chinese or Vietnamese. And while both are delicious, the herbs I have growing at the moment don’t quite lend themselves to those flavour profiles, I have a lot of sage…
So, it was time to experiment!
I’ve used a standard vegetable stock as the base, flavoured with a little caraway, and sage, basil and mint for the herbs.
For the vegetables I’ve used tomato, radish, courgette and chilli, which was a great combination, and very pretty too!
Little cubes of silken tofu add protein as well as texture, and a squeeze of lemon completes the dish.
It was really good, ever so satisfying and a new combination of flavours for my noodle soups. A sort of euro pho if you will!
makes 1 large bowlful
500 ml light vegetable stock (I used marigold made to half strength)
a pinch of ground caraway seed, (you really don’t need a lot)
2 tbsp fresh basil, small leaves left whole and the rest roughly chopped 1 tbsp fresh mint, as above
3 fresh large sage leaves, shredded
2 small tomatoes, quartered. I used yellow ones
4 radishes, sliced
1/2 a courgette, diced
green or red chilli to taste, thinly sliced. I used 1 red chilli
a squeeze of lemon juice, about a tsp
a pinch of black pepper
175 g silken tofu, diced
45 g rice noodles
Bring the stock to the boil and add the caraway and courgette. Simmer for 3 minutes until the courgette is starting to soften.
Add the noodles, chilli and sage and simmer for a further 2 minutes. Next, the radishes, tomatoes and tofu. Cook for a further minute, you just want to warm them through.
Carefully stir in the herbs (so as not to break the tofu up), and season with lemon juice and black pepper.
By E.