29.1.10

Oriental soups


This is going to be a lazy post, by which I mean, I am not going to write up a recipe. The reason? Ethnic. I don´t feel I can speak with any authority or knowledge about Asian soups. I was born and have always lived in a country that used to have no immigrants, where all Chinese restaurants were called "La gran muralla" . They served fried rice and gloopy lemon chicken and if anybody ever asked for a soup there I´ve never met them.


Now things have improved, and it´s possible to have pretty good stuff, at least in Madrid. Most importantly, it´s possible to buy lots of ingredients that allow you to replicate many of the lovely things found in books and around the internet. And that´s what the beauty of my lack of Asian food education comes in; my standards are so low that I just looove what I make.


The fun bit with all these things is stocking up the pantry. A trip to the Mostenses market and its adjacent shops will have you coming back with bulging bags for very little money. I buy noodles, won ton wrappers, dried shiitakes, fish sauce, chili garlic sauce, Hoisin sauce, big bottles of soy sauce, sesame oil, bean sprouts, good cheap chicken, massive ginger roots, even chinese chives and bok choi and pak choy.


It´s a lot of fun. You can even brave the underworld and try to eat at the subterranean restaurant in the Plaza de España parking lot, which is always packed and so rather difficult. I hear it´s great, and hope some day to put it to the test.


Meanwhile, I´ll be trying to make won tons, and making lots and lots of soup. What kind? Well, on lazy days it might be instant miso soup. On more energetic ones good chicken stock with fish sauce, a hint of chili and some mint or chives. And for true soul warming stuff, filling yet light, the full on chicken noodle treatment, or a version thereof with scraps of leftover roast meat.

It´s a very accomodating patron, the noodle soup, and one that always hits the spot, so have a go.

7 comentarios:

scandilicious dijo...

Know what you mean about asian soups - it's fun to play around with store cupboard ingredients such as fish sauce, tom yum paste, galangal and of course top it all off with lots of cilantro/coriander and lime juice! Love spicy noodle soup this time of year, so full of flavour and healthy too :-)

Carol Egbert dijo...

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Term Papers dijo...

It's great to see good information being shared.

Sean Thomas McGill dijo...

I visited Madrid and other parts of Spain when I was a kid. Maybe the reason the Asian restaurants didn't do that well is because Spanish cuisine is already so fantastic. I'd never heard of tapas before I went, but while I was there every afternoon was spent going from tapas bar to tapas bar until I had to waddle back to the hotel.

Sonja dijo...

ooh yes some good noodly soup! I've tried the Plaza de España restaurant; it is good, I have to agree... although perhaps not quite worth all the hype it seems to have generated, which I think probably comes more from everyone thinking they've stumbled upon the great unknown, tucked away inside the parking lot...
My fave so far is on Calle de las Maldonadas, just next to La Latina metro; super cheap and super tasty.

Sonja

San Jose domestic violence lawyer dijo...

Those soups sound like they'd be delicious. Enjoying your blog.

David dijo...

nice post. looking to read more from you. thanks

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