Sep 28 2008
Doing the Needful
A recipe we’ve cooked many times but never quite close enough to the recipe for us to write it up.
- Noodle Soup for Needy People
As I said, we’ve made this slurpy ramen-style noodle dish at least three times, on cold evenings when one or other of us has been feeling flat. But along the way the right noodles, or the right mushrooms, or pak choi or some other vital aspect has always been missing and I’ve held off telling you about it.
This evening we got it pretty right. I had to subsititute Chestnut Mushrooms for the specified Shitake mushrooms; not quite the desired texture but nevertheless adding colour and flavour. It was also particularly punchy this evening as I didn’t have any fresh ginger; using ground but not reducing the volume meant it had quite a kick!
However, as with previous incarnations of this dish, I felt it was still a bit lacking. Nigella says in the preamble to the recipe that whilst you could add some cooked chicken or some slivers of raw tuna or salmon, she doesn’t think that protein is what you need. I disagree entirely. Protein is what is missing from this dish- something that was absolutely confirmed for me this evening when I found myself thinking ‘If it even just had some more mushrooms it’d be much better’.
So let it be known. When I am needy I need proper chicken noodle soup. Yes, you can add masses of pak choi and beansprouts and sugar snap peas- and please do- but don’t forget the sustaining stuff too.
