Noodling Sunday Nights

Sunday suppers as a child were lazy nights. My mum would often do cheese on toast, baked beans or tomato soup. These were the nights of sitting watching The Wonderful World of Disney in our dressing gowns. Some Sundays I feel this need for such easy cooking, especially after a busy weekend leaves me with no energy. It seems on these nights that the weekend can't possibly end because there are still so many things to do. Yet the shadow of another week looms large.

One of my easy dishes is noodle soup. I am a big fan of miso soups and laksas crammed with vegetables. This Sunday I did a simple noodle soup in the style of a laksa. After last week's loading of my green noodles with a heavy cheeze sauce, this light broth was a timely reminder: respect the noodle. My green noodles were happy and heavenly.

Here, I must confess to being an opportunist rather than a purist. I had some dashi stock left over from a previous miso soup so that went in, although I know it is not traditional. I only had one of those cute little cans of coconut milk so used less than I otherwise might, but I found it was just enough without being too rich.

It was a success - fragrant, spicy, oodles of lovely slippery noodles and jewel-like vegetables. Here is what I did:

Easy Noodle Soup
(serves 2)
1 carrot, chopped
1/4 small white cabbage, shredded
small handful of dried shitake mushrooms
1 zucchini, chopped
1 small can (300g) corn kernels, drained and rinsed
1/2 cup frozen peas
1/3 red pepper, chopped
165ml coconut milk
1-2 tbsp curry laksa paste
1/2 tsp dashi granules

Put in about 1 cm of water in a medium saucepan and boil. Add carrots, cabbage and shitake mushrooms and cook over medium to high heat about 10 mins or til softening. Stir in laksa paste. Add remaining veggies, coconut milk, dashi and about 1 cup of water (depending on how thick you like your soup - I like it quite thick). Cook another 5-10 mins and serve hot.

On The Stereo:
Blue - Joni Mitchell