A fragrant trip abroad – Coconut milk noodle soup

Back home in Sweden I have a close friend lives quite close to me. He participated in this last vegan challenge and shares my passion for cooking. Back when I still lived at home we used to meet about once a month in his little apartment and have dinner together. Every time we chose a different cuisine, and in his little kitchen that is barely big enough to turn around in we traveled from Asia, to Mexico and Morocco. This is a recipe inspired by one of those dinners. A wonderfully fragrant coconut milk soup that tickles your nose buds with smells of ginger, lime and garlic. Just as a happy bonus the soup is also simple stupid to make!

This is one of those dishes that you really can make your own, depending on the season and what you prefer. Firstly, choose the kind of noodles you prefer. I used soba this time, my good friend made it for me using thick, fresh Udon, which was delicious! Secondly, you can use any of your favorite veggies. I used carrots and cabbage simply because that was what was in season. Also, the cabbage is fun because you can slice it in thin long strips making it resemble noodles. You could go for sugar snaps, broccoli or even a frozen wok mix to make it even simpler (fresh veggies are tastier though). 

There is one critical aspect of serving this soup that I won't allow you to compromise. You have to serve it with fresh lime wedges. This is how you do it: squeeze the juice into your bowl and then pop the wedge in the bowl. This will infuse certain parts of the soup with more lime than others, making it oh so much more interesting to eat!

A fragrant meal for two

2 scallions

1 clove o garlic

½ jalapeno

10 g ginger

5 g fresh turmeric or 1 tsp. dried turmeric

2 tsp. finely minced lemongrass

1 carrot

150 g savoy or white cabbage

1 tbsp. light soy sauce

1 Poblano pepper or small green pepper

3 dl coconut milk

5 dl water

100 g dry noodles (or an equivalent amount of fresh noodles)

300 g extra-firm tofu

This is a really simple soup to make, and once you get cooking it goes fast. So start by getting all the ingredients prepared. Heat a pot of water for cooking the noodles. Slice the scallions, finely chop the garlic and jalapeno. Grate the ginger and turmeric if you're using fresh. Remove the zest from the lime. Finely mince the lemongrass. 

Cut the carrot into matchsticks and slice the cabbage into thin strips. Slice the pepper. Slice the tofu or cut it in cubes. 

When the water is boiling, add the noodles and cook until al dente. Drain in a colander and rinse with cold water to stop the cooking and remove the starch to keep the noodles from sticking to each other. 

Heat a wok pan (or regular frying pan) to high heat. Add a splash of oil and the tofu. Season with salt and drizzle som chili sauce over it. Toss the pan often or flip the tofu over so that it doesn't stick to the pan. Fry until the tofu has a nice browned surface. Remove from the pan.

Scrape out any leftover tofu scraps from the pan and return it to the heat. Add another splash of oil. Add the ginger, garlic, scallions, jalapeno, turmeric and lime zest. Fry stirring often until very fragrant. Add the carrot and cabbage and fry for 2-3 minutes. Add the pepper, soy sauce, coconut milk and water. Bring to a boil and let simmer for about 2 minutes. Add the noodles and heat only until the noodles are warm again. 

Serve in pretty bowls with the tofu. Top the soup with cilantro leaves. Squeeze a few lime wedges into the soup and then leave the wedges in the bowl. 

Exotic adventures and sweet potato & ginger dumplings

The last week my dearest boyfriend has been visiting me here in the Big Apple. We've had a great time so far, mostly just taking it easy and walking around some of the different neighborhoods. I've started to see a pattern in the stops I plan for our explorations though. They are almost always related to food. I find strange small food shops, cafés and restaurants, and of course, multiple exotic grocery stores that are hidden away on shady streets. To me, entering any kind of ethnic grocery store is like entering a new enchanted world. There is so much to see, foods I've never even heard of and have no idea how to use. Our last tour led us to an Asian grocery store where we got the following three things: a box of sweet and strong tamarind candy, a glass bottle of fruit soda sealed by a glass marble that you broke loose before drinking and a big package of dumpling wrappers. Can you guess which one of them is starring in this week's last recipe? May I present: Sweet potato and ginger dumplings with a miso-sesame dipping sauce!

I was surprised by how easy dumpling making was. The filling goes fast to make, as does the dipping sauce. It takes some time to put together the dumplings, but this is a fun project to do together with someone you like. You get the hang of it pretty fast and then you're like a dumpling factory. We pan-fried our dumplings, but if you want to you can steam or boil them as well. A little bit of googling will tell you how it's done. Also, why not check out fun ways to wrap your dumplings on Youtube! If you want to you can be quite the dumpling artist!

Makes about 40 dumplings

The dumplings
2 tbsp. sesame seeds
1 leek, finely chopped
1 clove of garlic, minced
260 g sweet potato
200 g firm tofu
1 tbsp. grated ginger
2 tbsp. Chinese soy sauce
2 tbsp. vinegar
½ tbsp. chili sauce, such as Sriracha
2 tsp. mirin or sugar
1-2 tsp. sesame oil
About 40 dumpling wrappers (round, approximately 10 cm in diameter)

The dipping sauce
3 tbsp. Chinese soy sauce
3 tbsp. mirin (you can use sugar too)
1 tbsp. tahini
1 tbsp. miso (I use red)
2 scallions, minced
1 tbsp. vinegar

Mix all the ingredients for the dipping sauce and let it sit so that the flavors can mingle until your dumplings are done.

Roast the sesame seeds in a dry pan over medium heat. Remove the seeds and add a lug of oil. Fry the scallions and garlic until soft. Peel and grate the sweet potato coarsely and crumble the tofu. Add this to the pan. Mix the rest of the ingredients, except for the dumpling wrappers, in a bowl and pour over the filling. Fry for another minute or two, then remove from the heat.

To make the dumplings, place about 1 tablespoon of filling on a wrapper. Wet the edges of the wrapper with your finger and either just fold it over the middle and pinch it together or make nice pleats along the edge. I leave it up to you to use your googling skills to learn more about different wrapping techniques. Place the finished dumpling on a cutting board. Continue until you've used up all filling.

Heat a large pan to medium-high heat. Add a lug of oil and then place the dumplings in the pan as close as possible without them touching too much. Fry for about 3 minutes until golden on the underside. Add about 5 tbsp. of water to the pan and cover with a lid. Lower the heat to medium and steam for 3-5 minutes.

Enjoy your dumplings with the dipping sauce. Eat with your fingers or be proper and use chopsticks.