I haven’t been blogging much because, frankly, Nora hasn’t been eating much new food. But she has thankfully resumed eating my fish and chicken stews, and she’s been sampling odd things – for example, she loved dipping breadsticks into pesto, and she was willing to eat small amounts of peanut butter and hummus after having rejected them for a while. She also finally drank cow’s milk – or rather, half-and-half for my coffee at a restaurant when she was hungry and food service was slow.
This veggie noodle soup is quite strongly flavored with ginger and chili pepper. The secret ingredient to the broth is the egg. It gives the soup a nice rich mouthfeel and keeps the chili pepper from being overpowering. Nora didn’t eat a lot, but she didn’t reject it either, which I’ll count as a win. (She was willing to eat the noodles and cabbage, but not the carrots. I didn’t even try offering the shiitakes.)
- 2 carrots
- 1/2 head cabbage
- several cloves of garlic
- 6 coin-sized slices of ginger
- 1 dried chili pepper, minced and optionally de-seeded
- 6 dried shiitake mushrooms
- 2 eggs (or more, for richer soup)
- 2 packages of udon noodles
- olive oil for sautéing
Soak the shiitakes in boiling water until soft. Slice the carrots, ginger, and garlic, mince the chili peppers, and sauté these ingredients in the bottom of a stockpot. Slice the shiitakes, chop the cabbage finely, and add them to the pot. Add plenty of water and salt (I add more as I go along, adjusting to taste) and let simmer for 10-20 minutes until the vegetables are almost to your preferred consistency. Then add the udon noodles.
When the noodles are done, ladle out a cup of the hot soup. Beat the eggs in a bowl and slowly add the hot soup a little at a time, whisking briskly. Then pour the egg mixture back into the pot while stirring it. This will give the soup an eggflower texture and slightly thicker consistency. If you like, pick out the ginger slices before serving. (I don’t bother.)
If you don’t have time to rehydrate shiitakes, wakame is a good substitute. I’ve made the stew both ways. And, of course, wakame and shiitakes together would also be good.
Baby Loves Fat 