Sweet Potato with Ginger Soup

Contrary to what the ingredients might suggest, this is served as a pudding in Vietnam, especially in the winter. The ginger supposedly helps you to sleep, and is also good for stomach aches.

Serves 4

20g ginger, chopped into long, thin strips
50g sweet potato, skinless, diced small
2 small bowls of water – I have used this image so you can see the size of the bowls for reference only. Ignore the ingredients!


3 tbspn palm sugar
Cornflour

To serve:

4 small bowls
Teaspoons


Boil the ginger, sweet potato, water and 1 tablespoon of palm sugar in a frying pan, with the lid off. Once brought to the boil, leave for 10 minutes (until the potato has become soft, but not mushy).


When the mixture has started to reduce (after about 10 minutes), add the 2 remaining tablespoons of sugar and stir. Mix 2 tablespoons of cornflour in water to form a paste (quite runny). Add 1 tablespoon of this mixture to the soup.

After about 5 minutes it will begin to look slightly gelatinous (15 minutes cooking time total). At this point, remove from the heat and serve a small amount into the bowls.

Serve hot (and apologies for the clarity of this pic!):

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Vietnamese Chicken Noodle Soup + Veggie option

This is a recipe that I learned of a few years ago, which I have added to and adapted over the numerous times I have made it. Since observing local Vietnamese cooking their soups, I have incorporated the idea of creating the broth using only the essential ingredients and placing the remaining elements into serving bowls to avoid changing or spoiling the texture.

In terms of the ingredients, these are only my suggestions. The beauty of these soups is that you can pretty much throw anything you want into the mix – for example if you prefer cabbage, swap this for the pak choi, or perhaps throw in some prawns for diversity.

Serves 2

1 large chicken breast, skinless
Shitake mushrooms, small handful
2 spring onions, chopped small along the length

2 pak choi, chopped roughly into long strips
½ red pepper, cut into long, thin strips
Rice noodles, pre-soaked
Ginger, 1 square inch, grated

2-3 chicken Oxo cubes
2 tblsp Fish sauce
1 tblsp Chinese cooking wine

To serve:
1 spring onion, sliced lengthways into thin strips

Coriander, small handful, chopped

1 lime, cut into wedges
Nam Prik
2 large soup bowls


Begin by preparing all the vegetables.

Secondly, place the noodles in a bowl of hot water. It should take around 10-15 minutes for them to become almost cooked. Remove at this stage, and drain under cold water, then divide equally and place in each bowl.

Boil the chicken breast and Oxo cubes (or alternatively just use chicken stock) in a large saucepan using enough water to make two portions of soup. Once cooked through, turn the heat right down and remove the chicken from the pan.

Add the shitake mushrooms, pak choi and ginger to the chicken broth, keeping it on a low heat.

While the vegetables are cooking, cool the chicken by running under cold water and tear into small, thin strips (this is easy to do if you go in the direction of the grain).

Add to the soup bowls along with the pepper and chopped spring onion.

Add the fish sauce and Chinese cooking wine to the broth, stirring well. Pour the broth over the noodles, chicken and vegetables.

Add the spring onions that have been cut into long strips and the coriander on top of soup. Serve with Nam Prik, lime wedges, spoons and chopsticks.


Veggie option

Create the clear broth using vegetable bouillon (stock) and substitute the chicken for tofu.

While I am becoming a little more partial to the tofu stuff, I can’t unfortunately advise you on the best method of cooking. I will just assume as you have been adept in stumbling onto The Nibbling Toad, you will be tempted enough to Google the cooking technique. Here’s what I came across anyway...

Thai Condiments

Soy sauce or Tomato Ketchup?!

While soy sauce in Asia is abundant in their cooking, it is generally not served as a condiment on the table, and I’ve even been told that it is the Thai version of our tomato ketchup – i.e. it should not be put on everything, regardless of whether you agree or disagree! However, I always believe that everyone has different tastes, and I can never get enough of the stuff, so if you’re asking my opinion, go right ahead…. Other condiments that regularly appear on the table include:

• Salt
• Chilli flakes
• Mixed pickled chilli
• Lime wedges (brought out with dish, whether soup, noodles or rice)
• Nam Prik

Nam Prik is a great addition to all types of soups, but I have also seen locals put it over rice and noodle dishes. It has for me now become a bit of a rough estimation that I recall from memory, but I’m sure you can Google for the right amount of ingredients if so desired! Recipe's do vary but this is my favourite.

Don't be put off by the quantities of garlic and chilli – whenever I serve it to a Nam Prik virgin, they’re always a bit skeptical about adding it to their soup, but it really does make all the difference.

Nam Prik

Serves 4:

4-5 garlic cloves

1-2 small red chillies (1 tspn chilli flakes will do if you do not have fresh to hand)

4 tbspn fish sauce

3 tbspn Chinese cooking wine (available from bigger supermarkets and Asian food stores)

1 lime - juiced

Peel and chop the garlic sideways into round slices, and the same with the chilli (it is fine to leave the seeds inside). Put all the ingredients together into a small bowl. Add around a tablespoon to your soup – but start small, and add more as you go if necessary.

You can also keep Nam Prik for a week or two in the fridge.