Thai Chicken Noodle Soup: To Cure What Ails You!

By Susie Timm, Head Cheese

Last week, a couple of days before New Year’s Eve, I started coming down with a cold. I had a sore throat, runny nose, and the rest of the annoying symptoms.

All I wanted to eat was a steaming hot bowl of chicken noodle soup.

My friend Adam Allison who cooks at Hob Nob Grill in Chandler, offered this spicy take on ordinary chicken noodle.

This soup really warmed me up and I credit it to staving off the complete winter crud.

A couple of recipe notes: I substituted some Sriracha chili sauce for the actual chili pepper and I went easy on the ginger. Next time I would follow the recipe exactly as is.

Thai Chicken Noodle Soup

Ingredients

6 cups chicken stock
2 cups shredded chicken
1 stalk lemongrass, finely sliced and minced

1 large carrot, sliced
several bunches baby bok choy, separated (or other added greens of your choice)
1 red chili, minced, OR 1 tsp. chili sauce OR 1/2 tsp. cayenne pepper
3 cloves garlic, minced
1/4 cup fresh lime juice
3 tblspoons of fresh ginger sliced minced
2-3 Tbsp. fish sauce (to taste) – if you dont like fish sauce you can use kosher salt in its place.
1/4 to 1/3 cup coconut milk
white or black pepper (to taste)
generous handful of fresh cilantro (rough chop)
8-10 oz. dry flat Thai rice noodles

1. Bring a large pot of water to just under a boil and add the noodles. Remove from heat and allow noodles to soak 5-8 minutes, til al dente. Drain and rinse briefly with cold water to keep from sticking.
2. Using a large soup pot, bring chicken stock to a boil over high heat. Add the fresh or roasted chicken, lemongrass, carrot. Boil on high for 1 minute, then turn heat down to medium and cover with a lid. Allow soup to simmer for 5-6 more minutes, then adding bok choy.
   
3. Add the chili, garlic, lime juice, ginger, plus 2 Tbsp. of the fish sauce. Stir well.
4. Turn heat down to minimum and add the coconut milk (add up to 1/3 cup for creamier soup). Stir to incorporate. let simmer for about 20 min to let flavors incorporate
5. Taste-test the soup, adding more fish sauce until desired flavor/saltiness is reached. If it tastes too salty, add another squeeze or two of lime juice. if it is too sour from the lime juice add a couple teaspoons of sugar to equal it out.
6. Add noodles to the bottom of empty bowls. Ladle soup atop noodles  and garnish with fresh cilantro.