HOT Soup for Cold Weather

A spicy noodle soup is good for a head cold or cold weather. Fortunately, I?ve managed to avoid any head colds so far this season, but there?s no way to avoid the cold winter weather unless it's a tropical vacation. 

I didn?t make the soup this week to cure anything and the weather has even warmed up a little. I just wanted some good, spicy soup. The original recipe was from Bon Appetit magazine, but I?ve made a few changes and also made it even hotter than the original. You could tone it down some by reducing the number of chiles or leaving them out all together.

2 Tbsp vegetable oil

2 Tbsp shallots, chopped    

2 cloves garlic, chopped

2 Tbsp fresh ginger, peeled and minced

1 Tbsp Thai yellow curry sauce

1 Tbsp curry powder

2 tsp chili garlic paste

1 can light unsweetened coconut milk

5 cups low salt chicken broth

2 ½ Tbsp fish sauce

2 tsp sugar

1 cup snow peas, trimmed

2 red-skinned sweet potatoes, peeled and cut into ½ inch cubes

2 large handfuls dried rice noodles

1 lb boneless chicken breast, thinly sliced

½ red onion, thinly sliced

½ cup scallions, thinly sliced

¼ cup cilantro

4 red Thai bird chiles, thinly sliced with seeds

1 lime, cut into six wedges

Heat oil in a large saucepan over medium heat. Add shallots, garlic and ginger; stir until fragrant, about 1 minute. Reduce heat to medium low and stir in curry sauce, curry powder and chili garlic sauce.  Add ½ cup coconut milk. Stir until thick and fragrant, about 2 minutes. Add remaining coconut milk, broth, fish sauce, and sugar. Bring broth to a boil. Reduce heat and keep warm.

Cook snow peas in pot of boiling water until bright green, about 20 seconds. Using strainer, remove peas from pot; rinse under cold water to cool. Set peas aside in a bowl. Bring water in same pot back to boil. Add sweet potatoes and cook until tender, about 7 minutes. Using strainer, remove sweet potatoes from pot and rinse under cold water to cool. Set aside in a bowl. Again, bring same water in pot back to boil and cook noodles until tender but still firm, about 6 minutes. Drain, rinse under cold water to cool. Transfer to another bowl.

Return broth to simmer. Add chicken and cook until chicken is cooked through, about 10 minutes. Add sweet potatoes and reheat.

Cut noodles with scissors if too long and put in serving-size bowl. Top with snow peas. Pour soup mixture over noodles and peas. Scatter red onion, scallions, cilantro leaves and chiles over soup. Serve with lime wedges.