Instant Phố Bò

Super quick Phố Bò a Vietnamese beef noodle soup

Sometimes time just flies and you do not have time to make dinner or you just do not feel like making anything. For occasions like these I always have a small stash of different kind of instant noodles in my cupboard. I had some thinly sliced roast beef in the fridge that I was going to use for sandwiches, red onion, some fresh coriander, fresh bean sprouts and chili. So my choise was easy I as it happened that I had some instant Phố Bò.

I could have saved my self a little dishwashing and used the paper containers the noodles came in, but since it is the dishwasher which has to do the work I thought proper bowls was best, and sitting  arround the table we would get the feel we wnjoyed a proper made meal.

For this 5 minute meal I used:

Instant Phố Bò
A few slices of red onion
Thinly slice roast beef
Fresh bean sprouts
Fresh coriander
A few slices of chili

Follow the instructions for the instant noodles and add some red onions before you add the water.

Arrange a plate with the rest of the ingredients and serve everything together at the table so that each and everyone get to add as much of the ingredients as they want.

It took a maximum of 5 minutes to prepare and make and a little bit longer to enjoy before we all headed out the door for other activities.

Hot and spicy chili pepper soup, Tteokbokki inspired

Are you feeling the chill, like we do in Norway right now? Why not try this hot and spicy Korean chili soup. It is perfect for this type of weather, chilly and humid.

I first encountered this soup when I lived in Pusan, South Korea but did not learn to make it untill I was back in Norway.

I was invited to a cooking class held by the Korean embassy in Oslo. We made Japchea sweet potato starch noodle stir fry and Tteokbokki(떡볶이) a spicy korean rice cake dish.

This dish is Tteokbokki inspired, I have not been able to find all the ingredients like tteok and odeng, the rice cakes and fish cakes used. I did however find some doable replacements. I think I have to try to make tteok one day and make this soup properly.

The heat in this soup comes from the fermented chili paste used(gochujang,고추장) and chili flakes.

Gochujang is a savory, spicy, and fermented Korean condiment made from red chili, glutinous rice, fermented soybeans, and salt.

The embassy chef instructed us on how to make this dish and showed us how to make the simple broth used. She boiled some dried anchovies in water and strained it and voila, broth.

Ingredients:

400 g rice flake/cake or of tteok
200 g fish balls or odeng(korean fish cakes)
3 scallions
2 eggs
Seasoning
2 tbsp chili pepper paste
1 tbsp chili pepper flakes
1 tbsp soy sauce
2 tbsp sugar
1 tbsp minced garlic
Anchovy stock or some light broth( 1 liter water 1 dl dried anchovies)

Boil the eggs for 8-10 minutes.

Make anchovy stock by cooking anchovies in water for about 10 minutes, remove the anchovies.

Add the seasoning to the broth.

Bring to a boil, when this is boiling add the fish balls and rice flakes. Turn down the heat to medium. Cut scallions crosswise and add them to the soup.

Let this boil for a minute or so, enough for the scallions to soften slightly but not lose its colour. Pour the soup into serving bowls and add the eggs, the serve and enjoy the heat.

Tinolang tahong na may malunggay, Filipino mussel soup with moringa

Mmmm, my mouth is watering from just smelling this dish may friend said after taking a big whiff of her bowl with Tinolang tahong, I haven’t eaten mussels or moringa for ages.  OMG and a big sigh followed after her first spoonful.

This ginger broth dish  is a simple Filipino dish traditionally made with chicken, wedges of green papaya, and leaves of the siling labuyo(local chili), chili pepper in a broth flavored with ginger, onions and fish sauce, but this shell fish dish is becoming just as popular.

Minestra di farro e lenticchie

Hearty minestrone soup for the chilly automn weather, this recipe was given to me from a friend and she in turn got it from a friend from Bolsena Italy and it is typical for Alta Tuscia.

Delicious homemade tomato soup with sauteed colorful veggies

Homemade soups are often easier to make than instant soups and best of all you really know what is put in it.

Tomato based dishes in one the family’s favorites or maybe it is just mine;) This soup can take 15 minutes to make or a few hours, depending on how sweet you want the soup, that being said, the depth of the soups flavour also depends on what kind of tomatoes you use. As I always say that a recipe is a guide line for flavour, it is your choice of ingredients that decides the outcome. So next time you cook, think about the ingredients you use.

Yields: 4     Cooking time: 15 minutes      Prep time: 10-15 minutes

Ingredients
500 g flavourful tomatoes
1 chopped large onion or equal amount of shalots
3 cloves of chopped garlic
2 tbsp Olive oil
1 liter water
1 tomato paste
2 tbsp salt reduced Fond/concentrated stock
Handful of fresh basil
1 tsp paprika powder
1,5 dl cream
salt and pepper to taste
(Meatballs)

Garnish
1 cup of chopped green bellpepper
1 cup chopped/sliced carrots
1cup chopped/shredded red cabbage
Oliveoil
Salt and pepper

Start by prepping your ingredients by chopping the vegetables and keeping everything else ready.

In a pot, sauté onion and garlic in olive oil.

As soon as the onions are nice and shiny add the chopped tomatoes and cook until the tomatoes star to break down. Add the water, tomato paste, fond/concentrated stock, paprika powder and basil.

Bring this to a boil and use an immersion blender and blend everything to a smooth soup. Let the soup simmer for 10-15 minutes. The last five minutes, if you have some meatballs or ham add the amount you want in the soup.

Salt and pepper the soup to taste and if the soup isn’t sweet enough you can add a bit of sugar or let it simmer longer.

While the soup simmer, sauté the chopped bell peppers, carrots and cabbage, you want the veggies cooked, but still crunchy.

Plate your soup and garnish with te vegetables and some extra basil leaves.

Enjoy this with some nice bread.

 

Sour tamarind soup with seafood made from scratch, Sinigang

Sinigang my all time favorite when it comes to Filipino food, I have always loved this dish a little salty and deliciously sour. You can make this dish with pork, beef, chicken, fish and shrimps. My favorite is with salmon and shrimps, and I never make it with any of the other meats, it has to be salmon and shrimps.

Many people use ready made Sinigang mix, but it is so easy to make this from scratch.

Since I have always known sinigang I have no other name for it, I tried to ask someone if she knew if Sinigang had an english translation, but no she did not either. Then there was only one thing to do, I googled. I found out that there is a Malay recipe that is similar and it is called Singgang a sweet and sour soup with tamarind also, but with few other different spices.

500 g large shrimps

500 g salmon filets

1 onion

3 cloves garlic

1 tbsp minced ginger

1 liter water

100 g Tamarind paste

1-2 lemon, juice, I used two

2 tbsp fish sauce

2 tomatoes, diced

10 red radishes, halved

250 g Green beans, cut

1 bunch water spinach/morning-glory

Chilis if you want heat in this soup.

I made with out because this is what I am used to, hot sinigang is a bit strange I think.

In a pot sauté the onions, garlic, and ginger with 1 tbsp cooking oil until onions are translucent.

Add water, tomatoes, radish, tamarind, lemon juice of one lemon, fish sauce, salt and pepper. Bring the liquid to a boil, add the green beans and then turn down the heat to medium low.

Add salmon, shrimps and let them simmer in the pot for about 5 minutes before you add the morning glory. Cover the pot and turn the pot don to low. simmer for a few more minutes.

Adjust seasoning to taste, my sinigang turned out a little sweet because of the shrimps so I added juice of one more lemon.

Serve the dish with rice.

 

 

Potato and seafood soup with asparagus and scallops

Luxurious and yet a quick and easy soup to make, made with a ingredients I had in the freezer and fridge.

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Ingredients for 4 appetizers or 2 dinners

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3 medium sized potatoes, peeled and diced. If you want less starch, you can use Jerusalem artichokes
2 shallots
250 g fresh shrimps
1 liter water
3 dl cream
12 scallops
2 packages asparagus tops about 32 pcs
Butter
Salt and a pepper mix, a mixture of white, black and red
If you want, add a 1-2 dl of white wine, reduce the water if you add wine.

Start by sauteing the chopped shallots in a saucepans with a little butter until it becomes tender, add the shrimp with shells and keep sauteing until the shrimp looks toasted and cooked through.

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Add water, wine and potatoes, bring to a boil, turn down the heat and let this simmer until the potatoes are tender.

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Use an immersion blender and blend everything to a smooth mixture.

Strain the soup, set the liquid a side and warm for later use.

Saute the asparagus with butter, salt and pepper. Fry scallops in butter until they have a light golden crust on both sides on medium to high heat.

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Bring the soup to a boil, add cream and salt and pepper to taste. Remove the soup from the heat.

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Plate the asparagus and scallops in a soup bowl and ladle soup in the bowl.

Played around with the camera and tried to take some mood pictures in the dark.

Bean and iberico pork sausage soup

Sometimes I want something simple and easy, and looking through the fridge and pantry I found some Iberico ham sausage and a few boxes of beans and lentils.

You can use any kind of meat to make this soup, it is what you use that will flavour the soup.

Ingredients for the soup

1 box brown beans

1 box large white beans

1 box of lenses

250  g sliced and diced iberico pork sausage

1 finely chopped onion

1-2 cloves minced garlic

12 dl chicken or vegetable stock

Saute onion, garlic and sausage in a pot, when the onions look sweaty add the stock.

Rinse and strain the beans and lentils. Bring the soup to a boil and serve:)

This took me no more than 15 minutes to make.

Spinach soup with egg and bacon

Son: What are you making?

Me: Spinach Soup

Son making a grimace as an answer

Me: If you want to become big and strong like Popeye you have to eat spinach.

Son: Mom, you know that he is a cartoon character, right.

My sons have grown big and strong and eaten their spinach, and I probably should talk to them as grown ups now, but they are still my little boys.

I used

1 chopped onion
2 cloves minced garlic

1 chopped peeled potato

1 tbsp butter
500 g chopped spinach (use fresh or frozen)
1 liter stock
300 ml milk
300 ml cream
A pinch of ground nutmeg

Salt and pepper to taste

Bacon and hardboiled egg to garnish

Heat the butter in a large saucepan. Add the onions, garlic and potato.

Stir and cover with a lid, let it sweat for about 10 minutes on medium heat, stirring a couple of times.

Pour in the stock and cook for 10 – 15 minutes until the potato is soft.

Add the spinach and cook for a couple of minutes until wilted. Use a immersion blender to blitz to a smooth soup.

Add milk and cream, nutmeg, and salt and pepper to taste.

I garnich with bacon and eggs.

Creamy mussel soup with tomatoes and chili

Mussels are easy to prepare and super delicious, specially with freshly baked homemade bread or French fries.
I usually steam the mussels traditionally with some white wine, this time I made it with tomatoes and chili, the tomatoes gives the soup a lovely golden color.

This serves 2
1 kg mussels
1 tomato
1/2 onion
1 stalk celery
1 carrot
100 ml white wine
100 ml whipping cream
1 tbsp butter
1/2 teaspoon finely chopped chili or more for an extra bite
salt and pepper to taste..

Cut the vegetables into cubes and saute them in butter then add the chili.

The next step is to add wine and cream, salt and pepper to taste and boil.

When the soup is boiling add the cleaned and rinsed mussels.

Cover the pot and let the this simmer untill the mussels open I garnished with some choppwd sellery leaves.