Maybe I Am Half Asian...

I love this meal. I want to eat it everyday for the rest of the week. And every meatless Monday from here on out. I also just really love noodle bowls. They make me happy. In fact, although I usually half recipes, I made the whole thing for leftovers and froze part of the broth for a later date. So I can eat it for days...

Here's why I love this so much: It's super low in sodium and there's virtually no fat in it. The broth I used had 20 calories per cup. It's really light but strangely filling and you can pretty much eat as much as you want! But you won't feel hungry after. This was tested by a very hungry tennis-playing husband and he confirmed. It's also sloppy and requires slurping and splashing, so it's really fun to eat.

Be forewarned that it messes up a lot of dishes but it can be streamlined from the way the original recipe was written. So here are my tweaks and variations. No photo because it's just a bowl of noodles and vegetables, but you'll thank me later when you make your own version.

Soba Noodles with Mushroom Broth, Cabbage and Yams

from Bon Appetit February 2010

A Japanese-style noodle soup that's full of healthful things: mushrooms, yams, carrots—and even salty, savory, vitamin-and mineral-rich seaweed. For details on the ingredients used in this dish, see "Ingredient Tips" at the end of the recipe.

Broth:

• 10 cups Light Vegetable Broth or good-quality canned vegetable broth (you can make this but I used a low sodium organic boxed version from the store)
• 3 cups water
• 1 1/2 cups coarsely chopped fresh cilantro
• 1 1/2 ounces dried shiitake mushrooms, rinsed
• 3/4 cup thinly sliced peeled fresh ginger (I used about half this much because its what i had)
• 2 lemongrass stalks, outer dark layers removed, all but bottom 4 inches cut off and discarded
• 2 6-inch strips dried kombu (I bought this but I ended up not using it, I think it's salty so if you leave out, add a little salt or more soy sauce at the end)
• 2 teaspoons tamari soy sauce
• 1 teaspoon unseasoned rice vinegar

Garnishes:

• 2 cups 1/2-inch cubes peeled yams (red-skinned sweet potatoes) (1 medium)
• 5 ounces snow peas, trimmed
• 4 cups 1/2-inch-wide crosswise slices cored Napa cabbage (perfect for the half cabbage I always have leftover in the fridge)
• 5 ounces slender carrots (preferably assorted colors), peeled, thinly sliced on diagonal
• 10 ounces Japanese-style udon noodles or soba noodles
• 1 cup sliced green onions
• 1/4 cup matchstick-size strips peeled fresh ginger (I skipped this part because I don't like That much ginger)
• 4 to 6 ounces semi-firm tofu, cut into 1/2-inch cubes (optional) (I had tofu in mine and Brock had chicken that was cut up and sauteed in his- both good)
• Sambal oelek (I used sriracha sauce)
• Tamari soy sauce

For broth:
Bring broth and 3 cups water to simmer in large pot over medium heat. Add cilantro, mushrooms, sliced ginger, and lemongrass. Cover; simmer until mushrooms are tender, about 30 minutes. If using, rinse kombu; add to broth. Simmer 1 minute. Using tongs, remove kombu and mushrooms; discard kombu. Transfer mushrooms to work surface; cut off stems and discard. Cut each mushroom into 3 to 4 strips. (I didn't like the way the boiled mushrooms tasted, so we didn't use these. So taste before you put them back in.) Strain broth through fine-mesh strainer into another large pot or large bowl; discard solids in strainer. Add tamari and rice vinegar to broth. DO AHEAD: Can be made 1 day ahead. Cover and chill mushrooms. Cool, cover, and chill broth.

For garnishes:
Bring large pot of salted water to boil. Cook yams until just tender, 4 to 5 minutes. Using skimmer, transfer to medium bowl. Cook snow peas, cabbage, and carrots separately until crisp-tender (snow peas, 30 seconds; cabbage, 1 1/2 minutes; carrots, 2 minutes). (To save time, have all your vegetables prepped and start first with carrots, then add cabbage, then snow peas and add about 30 seconds to the boiling time at the end.) Using skimmer, transfer vegetables to separate bowls. (I didn't want to get that many bowls dirty so i didn't do that.) Reserve cooking liquid. DO AHEAD: Vegetables can be cooked 2 hours ahead. Let vegetables and liquid stand at room temperature.

Bring cooking liquid to boil. Sprinkle with salt. Add noodles; cook until tender but still firm to bite, stirring often. Drain; rinse.

Meanwhile, bring vegetable broth to simmer. Add green onions and ginger strips. Season with salt and pepper.

Using tongs, divide noodles among bowls. Divide mushrooms, yams, snow peas, cabbage, and carrots among bowls, each in separate mound. Divide tofu, if using, among bowls. Ladle broth over and serve, passing sambal oelek and tamari separately.

Ingredient tips:Lemongrass, an herb that resembles a green onion, has a mild lemony flavor. Kombu (a.k.a. kelp) is a variety of seaweed that’s often used for making stock. It's usually sold dried. Tamari is a dark sauce made from soybeans. Udon is a thick wheat-or corn-based Japanese noodle. Sambal oelek, a spicy chili sauce, is a common ingredient in Indonesian and Chinese cooking. Look for these ingredients in the Asian foods section of some supermarkets and at Asian markets.