Tuesday 3 June 2008

Quick and Easy Hot Shrimp and Edamame Udon Soup

I absolutely love making soup - and recently especially so if it contains noodles, seafood and chillies... it's more of a pasta dish than a soup really. Yet I get to feel smug that I've only had soup for dinner!

The soup below takes about 15 minutes to prepare if you have all the ingredients prepared - perfect for a healthy mid week dinner.

Its been a while since I've taken part (or at least it feels like it!) so I'm sending this over to Presto Pasta Night - hosted by the lovely Ruth at Once Upon a Feast.


Hot Shrimp and Edamame Udon Soup

Serves 2 big bowls, or four as a starter!
  • 1" piece grated ginger
  • 1 clove garlic, crushed
  • 1 tbsp tom yum paste - eek, I cheated! You could probably use whatever paste you wanted here - or even none at all, it still has a load of flavour!
  • 1 pt chicken stock
  • 1 pack udon noodles
  • 1 tbsp fish sauce
  • 2 handfuls raw shrimp (apologies for vague quantities - I pulled them out of my box of frozen shrimp in the freezer... doesn't matter anyway - add as much or as little as you fancy! Oh, and I add mine from frozen :)
  • 1 handful shelled edamame beans (see above!)
  • 1/2 bell pepper, diced into large bits
  • 1 small tin of coconut milk
  • A couple of drop of roasted sesame oil (if you have it... gives a lovely deep flavour)
  • Light soy sauce, to taste
  • Lime juice, to taste
  • shredded scallions, sliced thai chillies and cilantro to garnish!

Par-boil the Noodles...
I reckon this gets rid of the starchiness and gives a cleaner soup - but I haven't done a side to side comparison with the same brand of udon, so could possibly be talking out of my proverbial!
Put the noodles into a pot of boiling water and simmer for one minute - until they have just lost their brittleness. Drain and rinse under cold water.

Prepare the Base...
Heat a glug of nut oil in your hot wok and add the ginger, garlic and paste if you're using it and fry for up to a minute, until sizzling! Add the chicken stock and fish sauce and bring to the boil.

Bringing it all Together...
This bit depends a bit on the cooking time of the udon noodles, and what state the shrimp are in. My shrimp were large and frozen - so I gave them 8 minutes. The udon noodle pack recommended 7-8 minutes, so I chucked em in a couple of minutes after that. The edamame beans and pepper went in 3 minutes before the end, along with the coconut milk.

Serve!
Use a pasta server to scoop out a portion of noodles into each bowl, top with the remaining shrimp and veg, then ladle over the remaining broth.
Add a drop of sesame oil on to each.
Serve with the scallions, chillies and cilantro, soy sauce and lime juice on the side, to allow each eater to adjust to taste!

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7 comments:

glamah16 said...

I Love big bowls of soup like this you get i Thai or Vietnamese places. For a split secondI almost thought I saw those little green creatures that start with a P. Then I see you used Edame. Delish.

Anonymous said...

This looks great. I like the flexibility of using the shrimp still frozen - it seems like the kind of dish that you could just put together on a whim.

giz said...

Entirely nourishing and satisfying - a wonderful soup.

Ruth Daniels said...

I'm drooling! Thanks for sharing with PResto Pasta Nights.

Laura Paterson said...

coco - they don't even get in my house - never mind my soup ;)

fearless - it's great for when you haven't thought ahead to buy the ingredients for dinner!!

Thanks Giz!

Thanks for hosting Ruth - it's a great event!

Laura said...

I love this soup. I have made it several times, it is always easy, tasty and very satisfying!

Anonymous said...

My husband and I are big soup fans and were really looking forward to this, but were very disappointed. We both found the soup bland in flavor and lacking in interesting texture as well. I'm going to try to revive the leftovers with some hot peppers and maybe more garlic.