I guess I forgot to knock on wood last week when I said that I had a cold, but wasn’t going to stay home from work.
On Friday morning, I woke up coughing and sneezing all over everything. Gross.
I thought I was done with colds this winter, after fighting one off just before the holidays, but it turns out that was wroooong. And based on my recollection of getting sick right around the Bachelor premier 2 years ago, apparently I get sick at this time every year.
It doesn’t help that it’s been absolutely freezing in Salt Lake for the past week – highs in the teens. Who wouldn’t get sick?
So on Friday morning, instead of going into work, I cuddled up on the couch with my laptop, a box of tissues and a cup of tea.
Tea is good… but soup is better.
Luckily, I also had the ingredients to make this soup.
Soup fixes everything. So I made it and proceeded to eat it for lunch and dinner all weekend.
What is it about soup that makes me feel so much better – nature or nurture? It must be both… warm fragrant broth to warm you up from the inside out and clear the sinuses, plus the recollection of exactly the same sensation every time you’ve been sick since childhood.
Mmmmm… yep, nothing better to cheer you up when you’re sick than hot, noodley soup.
So can I recommend that you make this immediately? If it’s cold where you live, if you’re coming down the the sniffles, if your boyfriend or roommate or co-worker just sneezed… take action and cook up a big pot of (vegan!) soup. And don’t forget the sriracha… or tissues!
- 1 Tbsp sesame oil
- 1 heaping Tbsp chopped fresh ginger
- 2 cloves garlic, diced
- 1/2 a jalapeno, seeds removed and thinly sliced
- 6 cups low-sodium vegetable broth (preferably one without tomatoes, such as Whole Foods 365 Organic)
- 3 green onions plus extra for serving, sliced
- 3 Tbsp reduced sodium soy sauce
- 1 tsp rice vinegar
- 3 baby bok choy, chopped
- 1 red pepper, thinly sliced
- 1 carrot, peeled and sliced into very thin coins
- 7 oz extra-firm tofu, cubed
- 5 oz soba noodles
- chopped cilantro, for serving
- sriracha sauce, for serving
- In a large pot, heat sesame oil over medium high heat. Once hot, add ginger and garlic and saute until fragrant, 2-3 minutes. Add jalapeno, vegetable broth, and green onions. Cover and simmer 10-15 minutes.
- While broth is simmering, cook soba noodles according to package directions. Drain and set aside. (These are cooked separately to keep your nice broth from getting murky!)
- Strain broth into a large bowl. (This step is optional, but I prefer to remove the solids.) Once strained, pour broth back into pot. Add soy sauce, rice vinegar, vegetables, and tofu, and simmer until veggies are heated through, 1-2 minutes. Add soba noodles and heat for 1 more minute, until both noodles and broth are hot.
- Remove soup from heat and ladle into bowls. Serve alongside sliced green onions, chopped cilantro, and sriracha.
- Note: This soup is best eaten immediately, as it won't reheat well once the vegetables and noodles have been added. If you're planning to have leftovers, I recommend saving half the broth just after straining and before adding anything else. For leftovers, you can assemble the bowl of soup just before reheating, which will prevent mushy veggies and noodles.
gorgeous soup! I’ve been craving miso but I’ll have to make this instead :)
Thanks Abby! Miso is on my to-make list, too :)
Made this for my girfriend last saturday. Needless to say I’m in the kitchen again. She absolutely loved it. Thanks!
Looks very soothing.
This sounds and looks amazing and healing!
I think it´s an original recipe! I like this soup!
Best regards!!
Ana from JUEGO DE SABORES
Hi there. Food on Friday: Ginger is open for entries. This looks like a good one! I do hope you link it in. This is the link . Please do pop back to check out some of the other links. Happy New Year!
Thanks Carole! I just posted a link to the recipe on your Food on Friday post :)
This sounds so good, and the pictures are lovely! I like the kleenex box in the picture, haha :)
Thanks Katie! Real life right there :)
Erica, thank you for linking this in to Food on Friday. We are now getting a great collection of dishes using ginger together. I hope you have stopped by some of the other links to check them out!
Ps I have just signed up to follow your blog on Google Reader. A follow back to Carole’s Chatter would be wonderful – or have you already followed? Cheers
What if said cold catapulted into a full blown, knock down, drag out flu?
*sighhhhhh
This soup looks so perfect right about now ;)
Feel better, Gwen! Soup helps :)
Feel better Gwen! We just got a huge snowstorm here, so flu or not, I have a feeling I’ll be making more soup this weekend.
Hello! This looks delicious. Noodle soups are my total comfort food. Do you know if Soba Noodles are high in carbs or gluten?
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Hi Teresa! Soba noodles are lower in carbs and calories than pasta, but most of their calories still come from carbs. Most soba noodles that I’ve seen are made from whole wheat flour as well as buckwheat, but I believe you can find gluten-free all-buckwheat ones – just check the label.
This is one of my favorite kinds of soups; not heavy, but totally satisfying!
Me too, especially during these cold winter months!
This was lovely. I doubled the wine vinegar and added some honey to give it a bit of “hot n’ sour” soup feel to it!
Sounds delicious! Glad you enjoyed it, Julia :)
Greetings from India! I was surfing the net looking for some veg recipes to prepare for my hubby who just came down last night with a bad cold :( and came across this recipe- it looks simple and I will try it today itself! Thank you Erica!
Thanks for your comment, Muriella! Hope your hubby feels better!
He is much better! And the soup was real tasty!!! Thanks for sharing, Erica!
I made this today – I practically followed the recipe exactly except I used a red chilli instead of jalapeño, and I added sesame seeds at the end. I also didn’t strain the broth. I also used thick rice noodles instead of soba. I loved it :) it smelled and tasted amazing, was so easy to make and felt good knowing it was so healthy! !
I made this tonight. All three of us really enjoyed it. My husband, who doesn’t get very excited about Asian dishes, commented that he gave the soup an A+, and he thought it tasted like something that a restaurant would serve. High praise from a guy who pretty much sticks with American fare. I made the soup as written except: I didn’t strain it; I added fresh sliced Shiitake mushrooms; and I used rice noodles instead of Soba noodles (gluten issue), which I just put directly into the pot of soup to cook. I will add this to our “keeper” recipes, and will certainly be making it again soon. Thanks for sharing your recipe.
Winter cold, warm soup. Feeling better. I used gluten free soy sauce and rice noodles, so no gluten. Otherwise followed the recipe.
Yum! Just add some bean sprouts, a splash of sesame oil and a dash of sesame seeds – now thats authentic Asian – and it smells awesome :D Thanks for the great recipe (ok, cold, go away!)
I cant cook and just made this with a spring roll entree and the family is very impressed. Thanks dad .and they think its got the kick to cure a cold.
Thanks alot 5 stars.
Not too hard to make either.