Asian-style Chicken Mushroom Noodle Soup
Just the other day, I decided to play recipe russian roulette and have some fun.
Being quite adventurous, I grabbed one of my many soup cookbooks and with my eyes closed shut I opened to a random soup recipe page. I decided that the page I landed on would be my next soup I was to cook up.
And Asian-Style Chicken Mushroom Noodle Soup is was!
I enjoyed making and eating this soup. I did make a few adjustments though from the original recipe. It originally called for some canned straw mushrooms and I did not want any part of that soup desecration. I am very lucky to have many options of mushrooms in the lower mainland, so I substituted the canned straw mushrooms for fresh enoki and shiitake mushrooms. Yum.
The Verdict of Asian-Style Chicken Mushroom Noodle Soup? I adjusted the recipe and brought back my superstar ingredient that I used in my Spicy Oyster Chowder, which was the thai red chile. That little chile is so powerful and adds the perfect amount of heat to any soup – it played very well with the sesame oil and fish sauce. I swear I am going to keep red thai chiles around in my kitchen as a staple from now on. This soup also had a nice texture with the enoki mushrooms (one of my favorites) and the shiitake mushrooms had a delicate yet meaty flavor. The soup the next day had a more intense flavor indeed. I was a tad surprised that the original recipe called for cinnamon and cloves though, but they also worked very well in the soup.
I would make this soup in the future and would not change a thing from how I adjusted and made it myself.
Asian-style Chicken Mushroom Noodle Soup Ingredients:
- 1 tbsp olive oil
- 1 large onion, finely chopped
- 8 cups low sodium chicken stock
- 2 tbsp fish sauce
- 1 tsp sesame oil
- 2 tbsp fresh gingerroot, finely chopped
- 2 whole star anise
- 1 cinnamon stick
- 4 whole cloves
- 1 small red thai chile, finely chopped
- 3 cups rotisserie chicken (1 small chicken), shredded
- 5 large shiitake mushrooms, thinly sliced
- 1 package enoki mushrooms (cut off and discard the roots)
- 4 oz(125g) uncooked thin rice noodles
- 1 bunch (6oz) pea shoots
- pepper
Asian-style Chicken Mushroom Noodle Soup Instructions:
- Add oil to large saucepan/pot. Saute onion for 2-3 minutes on med/high heat until soft.
- Add stock, fish sauce, sesame oil, ginger, star anise, cinnamon, cloves and red thai chile.
- Bring to a gentle boil; reduce heat, simmer for 25-35 minutes.
- Remove star anise, cinnamon and cloves from pan, and discard.
- Add chicken and mushrooms to soup; simmer an additional 3-5 minutes or until chicken is hot.
- While soup is simmering (in step 3 above), bring 2 liters of water to boil, add noodles and remove from heat. Let stand 2-4 minutes or until softened. Drain in colander.
- Divide noodles among serving bowls.
- Ladle soup on top of noodles in each bowl.
- Top with pea shoots and season with pepper.
The Original Recipe: All New Soups, Stews and Chili’s, A pamphlet book by the Pampered Chef (Page 21).
What I changed from original recipe:
- replaced vegetable oil with olive oil
- replaced watercress with pea shoots
- add red thai chile
- added 1 tsp sesame oil
- replaced canned straw mushrooms with fresh shitake and enoki mushrooms
- didn’t bother with using a sachet for cinnamon, star anise, ginger and cloves.
- left ginger finely chopped in the soup (original recipe instructed to have it in sachet and discard it after the simmer).
Soup Mistress Rating for Asian-style Chicken Noodle Soup:
Healthy (+ slimming + low sodium): (4/5) 
Presentation: (4.5/5) 
Taste: (5/5) 
