Tom Kha Soup (with Rice Noodles)

Tom Kha soup, also known as the most delicious, creamy, flavor-explosive soup known to man.

Know stories this time, let's just get down to business:

You will need:

**This recipe is completely gluten free and vegan EXCEPT** for the fish sauce, which you can leave out and replace with tamari, if you decide. However if you are ok with ingesting animal products, I highly recommend the very pungent saltiness of fish sauce over the tamari, it really is much fuller flavor.

The broth:

32 ounces of veggie stock

2 fifteen ounce cans of organic coconut milk (full fat)

2 lemongrass chunks as long as your middle finger and as fat as your thumb, cut into rounds and crushed with the butt of your knife

1 thumb sized piece of ginger, cut into chunky pieces (you don't have to skin it)

3 cloves of garlic, peeled and cut into chunky pieces

5-7 kaffir lime leaves (these are sometimes hard to find, either fresh in the herb section or dry, when I do find them I buy bulk and keep them in my freezer)**if you can't find them, quarter a whole lime as a replacement in addition to the other lime for the broth

1/2 of a lime, cut into chunks, skin on

2 butts of yellow onion (the useless part of the onion that you use for broth)

1 heaping tablespoon of brown sugar

1 heaping tablespoon of chili-garlic paste or srirachi

1.5 tablespoons of fish sauce (**or tamari)

4-6 cremini or button mushrooms, washed and cut into thin half moons

3 green onions, chopped (both white and green part)

Toppings:

7 ounces of firm tofu, cut into bite-sized slices

1 lb of rice noodles

1/3 of a red cabbage, sliced in thin shavings

2 handfuls of bean sprouts

8 baby tomatoes, quartered

Garnish:

1/3 of a bunch of cilantro, chopped

wedges of lime

First, prep your broth flavorings. You really want to bruise and smash the lemongrass and the ginger with the butt of your knife to help release the flavor.

In your soup pot, add a tablespoon of coconut oil on medium heat and lightly saute all of the broth ingredients to release the flavor-- about 3 minutes. Add the veggie stock and the coconut milk. Cover the pot and let the ingredients simmer  on medium low in the liquid for at least 45 minutes to an hour.

While the broth is getting flavorful, simmering away, fry the tofu in coconut oil. I spiced mine with garlic salt, cayenne and turmeric. Set aside once they are complete.

At this point, start the water boiling in a separate pot to cook the rice noodles for the soup.

After the broth has simmered for at least 45 minutes, strain the chunks out of it with a strainer or with a colander, and then return the liquid back to the stove. Over medium low heat, add the brown sugar, the chili sauce (or srirachi) and the fish sauce (or tamari).

Allow the broth to continue to simmer on low, meanwhile prep all of your veggies (if they aren't already).

And add your rice pasta to the boiling water, cook 6-8 minutes, until soft but still chewy.

Add the chopped mushrooms and green onions to the broth to let them get soft and soak up the flavor of the soup, they need to be in the broth on medium-low heat for about  7-10 minutes to get to that
"perfectly delicate" texture.

Finish prepping whatever is left (you'll want tomatoes, cilantro, lime wedges, red cabbage and bean sprouts)

Drain your rice noodles:

Now start building your soup! Noodles, veggies, tofu, broth, topped with bean sprouts, tomatoes, cilantro and a wedge of lime squeezed over the whole thing.

When AJ took this photo, the kitchen smelled so much of mouth-watering lemongrass coconuty-ness, and I said to him a moment before he snapped the shot "Can we just eat now, please?"

Enjoy!!!!!!!!! xoxoxo

Peanut Noodle Salad

This was a leftover salad from our pho extravaganza. I made about 2x too many rice noodles-- I made 15 ounces of rice noodles (I instructed you peeps to make 7 ounces) and had the rest in the refrigerator--- they needed to turn into something! So I was inspired to make this dish.

What you will need for this dish:
Rice noodles, already cooked (about 7 ounces)
Fried tofu (mine was leftover, you don't need this, but its nice)
A handful of shredded cabbage
Half of a cucumber, grated
Two grated carrots
Two green onions, chopped thinly
A handful of cilantro, chopped
A handful of tat soy greens or romaine, chopped
1/3 cup of tomatoes, chopped

Dressing:
Three tablespoons of peanut butter (chunky or not, or almond butter will do fine too)
1/3 cup rice vinegar
3 tablespoons of tamari
1 tablespoon of srirachi
2 tablespoons of maple syrup
2 tablespoons of sesame oil
2 garlic cloves, peeled
1 "thumbnail" sized piece of ginger, peeled
A few sprigs of fresh basil

Toss your rice noodles with any vegetables you would like sans the tomatoes (save those for putting on top last), tofu if it isn't already, fry and then toss into our vegetable-noodle mix.

Blend all ingredients for your dressing together, and then taste. If you like it sweeter add more maple syrup, spicier add more sriachi or garlic, tangier add more vinegar, etc.

Top your salad with the dressing and stir.

Add all greens so your salad if you haven't already and stir.

Top with tomatoes and serve!'

Vegan Pho

Pho.
It's a trendy food right now, and to most it seems rather complicated...and we're all willing to pay nine dollars a pop for a bowl? Well, you need not, my friends. You can make this entire soup for less than nine bucks, I betya

The broth:
7 or 8 cups of your homemade** veggie broth :)
Pho seasoning: clove, coriander seed, fennel seed, cinnamon, star anise, cardamom, licorice (You can get a packet that makes 6 cups of broth at any Asian grocery for about $1.95)
2 carrots, chopped coarsely
1/2 onion, chopped coarsely
3 cloves of garlic, chopped coarsely
1 "thumb" size piece of ginger, chopped coarsely
1/2 a lime, cute into pieces
3 tablespoons of tamari
Salt, to taste, after it has simmered

Toppings:
7 ounces of rice noodles
7 ounces of cubed tofu
1/2 cup of shredded red cabbage
sprigs of cilantro
sprigs of basil
1/2 lime, cut into wedges
One handful of bean sprouts

Prep all of your broth ingredients and put them in a pot, turning them on high to bring them to a boil. Once boiling, cover and simmer for 45 minutes to an hour.

While your broth is simmering, prep your toppings.

I fried my tofu in a cast iron pan with some cilantro, salt and pepper.

I then chopped my green onions, shredded my cabbage and readied the cilantro, lime and basil (the bean sprouts are not pictured, because it seems if you leave your bean sprouts in the fridge for longer than 6 hours, they turn into complete mush...)

At this point, your broth should start looking like this:

Taste your broth and see if you might like to add some more salt, tamari or lime juice

Next, boil your rice noodles. Your rice noodles may have varying directions, I put mine in boiling water for about 6 minutes and then drained them. Rinse them with mild temperature water after draining them, or they will stick together. 

Once your broth has simmered for at least 45 minutes, strain out the solids.

You are now ready to serve!

Portion out a large amount of rice noodles into a bowl, followed by tofu, green onions, cabbage, bean sprouts, cilantro, basil and lime juice. Ladle your broth over the top and serve! You may like srirachi or extra tamari at the serving table.

XO