Apologies to my readers and followers for a long absence from the blog. Like the rest of the world, I face more time spent at home to maintain social distance during the COVID-19 pandemic. Cooking at home offers a welcomed distraction from the crisis. I’m here to share the success of a recent recipe adventure.
I made a Venn diagram of East Asian soups throwing together ideas from Korean cut noodles, Japanese ramen toppings and Vietnamese pho.
Make the dough for the noodles up to a day ahead if you want. Knife cut noodles come together with ease compared to other pastas. While the dough rests for at least 30 minutes, make the beef broth seasoned with onion, garlic, ginger, star anise, and soy sauce. After simmering the above, add baby bok choy, enoki, shaved carrot and fresh knife cut noodles.
I garnished the bowl of colorful noodle soup with scallions, cilantro, Fresno pepper, and soft boiled egg. The fragrant broth, fresh veggies, yummy noodles, soft yolk, and crisp garnish tempted all my senses.
Here’s how you make it:
Pan Asian Cut Noodle Soup
Ingredients:
Noodles:
- 1.5 cups all purpose flour
- 1/2 tsp salt
- 1 tsp vegetable oil
- 1/2 cup cold water
Soup:
- 1/2 yellow onion, thinly sliced
- 4-5 garlic cloves, thinly sliced
- 1/2 tsp salt
- 2 inch finger of fresh ginger, peeled and thinly sliced
- 2 scallions, chopped and separated into white and green parts
- 2 quarts beef or vegetable broth
- 1 Tbsp dark soy sauce
- 1 piece of star anise (optional)
- 3-4 eggs
- 1 cup of baby bok choy, leaves separated, washed and rinsed
- 1 carrot, shaved into strips
- 1/2 cup of enoki
- 1/2 cup cilantro sprigs
- 1 Fresno pepper, thinly sliced
Directions:
- Combine all ingredients for the noodles into a KitchenAid mixer. Mix with dough hook until shreds of dough begin to form. Turn the dough out from the bowl onto the counter and kneed into a smooth ball. Cover the ball of dough with a damp towel and set aside for at least 30 minutes.
- Heat oil in a large pot and add sliced onions and the white part of the scallions. Sauté for a few minutes and then add the garlic and ginger. Stir for a minute until fragrant.
- Add broth, soy sauce, and one piece of star anise to the pot. Bring to a boil and then reduce heat to a simmer.
- Bring a half inch of water to a boil in a small pot with a lid. Place eggs into pot and cover for exactly 6 minutes to steam. Remove pot from heat and run cold tap water into the pot. Let the water overflow for a minute to cool the pot and stop the eggs from cooking. Allow eggs to rest for about 10 minutes in cold water. Remove, peel and set aside.
- Cut ball of dough into four equal pieces. Roll each piece of the dough with a 1” diameter rolling pin on a floured surface to a 1-2 mm thickness. Spread a teaspoon of flour onto the top of the dough sheet. Loosely roll the dough around the pin. Pull the pin out from the tube of dough onto a cutting board. Cut across the tube of dough to make thin noodles. Place the cut noodles on a floured baking sheet to prevent them from sticking.
- Remove star anise from the pot. Add bok choy and stir for two minutes. Then stir in carrot strips and enoki.
- Shake flour loose from the cut noodles and stir into the pot. Cook for 2-3 minutes.
- Serve in deep bowls with sliced green scallion, Fresno peppers, cilantro, and half a soft cooked egg.
Place at the Table 