Asian Style Soup
Recently I have become more interested in the use of eggs
within main courses. I was looking through some of my 1960’s/70’s cookbooks the
other day when I came across numerous dishes that featured the use of eggs.
Personally I’m a big fan of eggs, they are so versatile, and a great substitute
for meat, a source of protein, and are paramount when it comes to many dishes. Speaking of the60’s/ 70’s , one of my cooking
idols of that era, Fanny Cradock did amazingly creative things with eggs which
ranged from her dying them bright colours to piping coloured potato into hard
boiled eggs to decorate a dining table.
I created this recipe after becoming inspired by images of
Asian ramen noodle soups and other Asian type soups that contained hard-boiled
eggs and after playing around with this dish a few times I finally managed to
perfect the recipe. This dish is inexpensive and very simple to make.
Aesthetically it can look very impressive, depending on how you garnish it and
in my opinion it’s the perfect meal to serve up when a friend drops in out of
the blue or if you have very little time to prepare something more lavish.
I hope you enjoy!
Serves: 4-6
Ingredients:
1x pack of egg noodles (hard or fresh)
1x bunch of spring onions
6-8 large eggs (Hard Boiled)
A small piece of
Fresh ginger (finely chopped)
2 large onions (red)
3 large peppers (assorted for colour)
1 large courgette
1 medium red chilli (finely chopped)
1-2 fresh limes
1 heaped tsp. of cumin
1 heaped tsp. of ground garlic
1 tin of chopped tomatoes
A bunch of fresh coriander
1 vegetable stock cube (added to a pint of boiling water)
Garnish ideas:
Chopped coriander, lime wedges, crushed peanuts, red chilli
slices (optional)
Method:
Firstly boil the eggs in a saucepan of water over a medium
to high heat. Make sure you leave the eggs for long enough as you want them to
be hard-boiled. Meanwhile prepare the vegetables. Cut the peppers and onions
into strips and the courgette into rings (or also strips if you fancy it). Next
cut the spring onions into thin rings. Add all the vegetables to a large
saucepan and drizzle on some olive oil. On a medium to high heat start to fry
the vegetables, once they start becoming translucent, add the juice of the lime
along with the heaped teaspoons of cumin, garlic, chopped chilli and chopped
ginger. Fry further, making sure to mix the spices well with the vegetables and
after about 5-8 minutes and turn off the heat.
Once the eggs have been hard boiled, drain the water and put
the eggs into cold water. Once the eggs are cool enough, crack the shells with
the back of a teaspoon and shell the eggs. Cut the eggs in half and leave to
the side.
Next put the egg noodles into water and bring to the boil
until they are soft. (If they are fresh noodles you will be able to add them
directly to the soup). To the vegetables add the tin of chopped tomatoes and
turn on the heat again. Prepare the pint of veg stock and add to the soup. Next
add the noodles and eggs to the soup. Finely chop the coriander and add to the
soup, mixing well. Simmer for a further 10 minutes to integrate all the
flavours.
Once satisfied that all the flavours have mixed
appropriately, serve and garnish with any of the suggested garnishes.
Bon Appetite!
