Nan Zhou Hand Drawn Noodle House

Chinatown's Nan Zhou Hand Drawn Noodle House gets lots of praise for, of course, their hand drawn noodles freshly made to order in house (sit in the back by the kitchen to watch the noodles being pounded out). But my question always with traditional Asian restaurants, and especially those like Nan Zhou that feature soup, is, "Is anything vegetarian?"
I'm happy to report that there are two vegetarian dishes at Nan Zhou, the small and always bustling (meaning get in and get out, 'cause others are waiting) Chinatown restaurant. Two dishes may not seem like a lot, but most of the menu is just meaty variations of noodle soup. Oh, and for the adventurous non-vegetarians there are spicy pigs ears, marinated intestines, and marinated beef tendons in the appetizer section to keep you busy. For $3, a small plate of noodles with peanut sauce and scallions is the cheapest way to fill up. These are great, fresh, chewy noodles with a basic, salty and nutty sauce that was a bit stiff, but a few spoonfuls of my partner's soup broth loosened the noodles right up. No where near as transcendent as Han Dynasty's garlicky sesame noodle dish that will have you dreaming about a plate of noodles (and tasting it) for days, but for $3, you can't complain.
Noodle soups come with either hand drawn noodles or shaved noodles (knife-cut and thicker), and if you don't specify, you're getting the hand drawn noodles, which is what most people get.

The large, $4.50 bowl of steaming vegetable noodle soup has Asian greens, scallions, and cilantro swimming in a piping-hot, mild vegetable broth with a pleasant hint of star anise that can be spiced up with the usual suspects of condiments on the table — soy sauce, vinegar, Sriracha, and chilis in oil. But the fresh, tender noodles are the star here, and you'll think you can't finish the whole bowl, but you will.

Slurp your winter-cold little hearts out vegetarians, because this bowl of noodle soup might be one of only a handful of traditional Asian noodle soups in the city you can enjoy.

Update: The vegetarian-ness of the vegetable noodle soup is dubious. Proceed at your own risk.

Nan Zhou Hand Drawn Noodle House
927 Race St., Philadelphia, PA 19107
215-923-1550
Sun-Thurs: 11am-9pm
Fri-Sat: 11am-10pm

Gazpacho

When I think of gazpacho, I think of chilled soup showcasing the freshest summer tomatoes and cucumbers. This soup is thin, refreshing, and studded with chunks of tomatoes, cucumbers, peppers, and onions.

That's not exactly what I received when I sat down to dinner with some friends, the cook a native Spaniard, and an excellent cook at that.

The soup was chilled and did featured summer-sweet cucumber and tomatoes, but there were no chunks of vegetables. Exclaiming that I've never had gazpacho without chunks, my friend goes on to say that they don't put chunks of vegetables in gazpacho in Spain. Or at least where he's from.
Always my go-to guy to hear rants and raves about how Americans bastardize Spanish foods, he goes on to tell me that Americans also load up gazpacho with garlic, which in a no-no in Spain. Or at least where he's from.

Instead the Spanish use onions. But be careful, he warns. American onions are much stronger than the onions in Spain, so be sure to use red or sweet onions and reduce the amount called for.

And as I sat dunking hunks of crusty bread into the vibrant and refreshing, smooth gazpacho, even as a garlic-lover, I couldn't imagine that garlic would improve in any way on what he had made.

And, so, I went home to make my own gazpacho using his advice. The addition of smoked chipotle powder is my own touch, and certainly not authentic. In the end, I did add diced cucumbers, sweet red peppers, and onions to the finished gazpacho as a garnish, because I just like a little crunch in my gazpacho.
Gazpacho
serves 8-10

3-inch-long piece of baguette, cut into 1-inch cubes
10-15 medium tomatoes, coarsely chopped
1 1/2 medium cucumbers, peeled and coarsely chopped, plus 1/2 cucumber finely diced for garnish
1/4 small red or sweet onion, plus 1/4 onion finely diced for garnish
2 teaspoons coarse salt
1 teaspoon paprika
1/4 teaspoon smoked chipotle powder
2 tablespoons sherry vinegar
1/2 cup olive oil
1/2 red pepper, finely diced for garnish

• Place bread in a small bowl, and squeeze juice from enough tomatoes over top of bread until bread is thoroughly wet with a small pool of tomato juice sitting in the bottom of the bowl. Transfer bread and tomato juice to a blender and blend until smooth.
• To the pureed bread, add tomatoes, cucumber, onions, salt, paprika, smoked chipotle powder, and sherry vinegar and blend until smooth. The blending will have to be done in batches since not all of the vegetables will fit in the blender, so dump blended batches into a large bowl or pot as you go.
• Strain blended vegetables through a small-mesh sieve into a large bowl, pressing on sides to push liquid through. Discard solids.
• Working in batches again in the blender, slowly drizzle olive oil (divided among batches) into the top of the blender, while the blender is running, until incorporated.
  
• Transfer to a sealed container and refrigerate for 4 hours or overnight.
  
• Garnish individual bowls of soup with diced cucumbers, onion, and red pepper before serving.
  

Yellow Lentil Soup: Boring Name, Exciting Flavors

It's still cold out there, huh? How 'bout some soup?

Posts and pictures of soup never get me giddy with excitement, jumping up to make them on the spot (I take that back; this one did), but I always wish the featured bowl of soup were sitting right in front of me -- kinda like soup on demand.

Ummm...this soup? I don't have much to say other than curry, coconut milk, and lime are some of my most favorite flavors, and they're all in here. And some lentils, of course. Also, make the soup thick and it's awesome spooned on top of rice. This soup makes me happy. I hope it does the same for you.

Yellow Lentil Soup
adapted from Food Network Canada
serves 6

2 tablespoons vegetable oil
1/2 onion, diced
4 cloves garlic, minced
1 1/2 tablespoons minced ginger
1 1/2 teaspoons ground cumin
1 teaspoon ground coriander
1 1/2 teaspoons curry powder
1/2 teaspoon turmeric
salt and pepper, to taste
3 cups yellow lentils, soaked overnight
1 can coconut milk
4 limes, (juice only)
2 small red chilies, finely chopped
6 cups vegetable broth (plus some to thin soup)
2 tablespoons brown sugar
limes and cilantro (garnish)

• In a large pot, heat vegetable oil over medium heat. Add onions, garlic, and ginger, and cook for about 3 minutes.
  
• Add cumin, coriander, curry poder, turmeric, salt, pepper, and soaked lentils, and cook for 3 minutes
• Add coconut milk, lime juice, red chilies, vegetable stock, and brown sugar. Bring to a boil and reduce heat.
• Simmer for 1 to 2 hours, or until lentils are very soft.
  
• Place half of soup in blender, and puree (or blend soup in pot with immersion blender). Add blended soup back into pot.
• Adjust seasonings to taste, and add additional water or vegetable stock to thin soup if too thick.
• Serve garnished with cilantro and a healthy squeeze of lime juice.
  

Beet Curry Soup

I was a little more than disappointed with my last beet soup - a classic and spartan borscht. And, yet, I was so excited to make that borscht, as I've never eaten borscht before (not in my family's recipe repertoire, and rarely found on menu's unless you're at a Polish or other Eastern European restaurant).

I followed a recipe from Olive Trees and Honey, a Jame's Beard award-winning cookbook of authentic Jewish vegetarian recipes, but its borscht recipe with meager onion, vinegar and sugar stock, cubed beets, and sour cream garnish just did not impress. I chalk this up to the fact that I like bolder flavors, and borscht is a simple soup. I still would love to try another version of vegetarian borscht, though (hint, hint, borscht recipe holders). Maybe a version with more variety of vegetables, since I went bare bones borscht the first round.

I still couldn't shake the need for beet soup, so now I present you with a beet soup my taste buds can get behind. And yours will too, if you like bold flavors. Roasted beets add an earthiness, apples add sweetness, and ginger and curry paste add that kick I so love in food.

One word of warning: the recipe I followed called for 1 to 2 tablespoons of curry paste, which I found a bit vague since there are many curry pastes out there. I went with a green curry paste, and started by adding less than 1 tablespoon, but that already was too much. So, do start with a much smaller amount of curry paste, as curry pastes are very different, and add more if needed.

Beet Curry Soup
adapted from The NY Times
serves 6-8

2 tablespoons olive oil
3 large beets (2 1/2 pounds total)
4 tablespoons butter
1 medium sweet onion, finely chopped
2 apples, finely chopped
4 cups vegetable broth, more if needed
1 teaspoon ginger, grated
1 tablespoons curry paste
salt, to taste
yogurt or sour cream, (optional garnish)

• In a bowl, drizzle oil over beets, and toss to coat. Put beets on an aluminum foil-lined baking sheet and bake in a 350 degree oven for 1 hour, or until beets can be pierced easily. When cool enough to handle, peel beets and chop into large chunks.
• In a large pot, melt butter and saute onions until caramelized, about 10-15 minutes. Add apples, broth, ginger, curry paste, salt to the pot. Bring to a boil, and simmer uncovered for 10 minutes, or until apples are soft.
• Pour soup into a food processor or blender and puree until smooth. Adjust seasoning and add more broth if too thick.
  
• Garnish with a dollop of yogurt or sour cream.
  

Thai-Style Chicken Soup

The Thai-style chicken soup featured in the Jan/Feb 2007 issue of Cook's Illustrated Magazine is my new favorite soup! I’ve made it three times already! (Well, my partner made it twice, and I made it once.)

Mushrooms and chicken (seitan) swim in the rich, creamy, coconut-based broth infused with lemon grass and lime. Red curry paste and chiles add a pleasant spiciness.

The first time we made the soup, we followed the recipe to a tee, with the exception of substituting vegetable broth for chicken broth, seitan for chicken, and soy sauce for fish sauce to make the dish vegetarian.

The second time, we added thin rice noodles to the soup for bulk.

The third time, we added rice. We also substituted low-fat coconut milk for whole coconut milk, and green curry paste for red curry paste.

I liked the addition of rice the best. Low-fat coconut milk is obviously not as rich as whole coconut milk, but does not compromise the soup. Pick your favorite curry paste. I have no preference for green or red curry paste, so enjoyed them both equally.

Thai-Style Chicken Soup
Adapted from Cook’s Illustrated
serves 4

1 teaspoon vegetable oil
3 lemon grass stalks, bottom tender 5 inches halved lengthwise and sliced thinly
3 shallots, chopped
8 sprigs of cilantro, chopped coarsely
3 tablespoons soy sauce (originally fish sauce)
4 cups vegetable broth (originally chicken broth)
2 (14-ounce) cans coconut milk
1 tablespoon sugar
½ pound button mushrooms, sliced
1 pound seitan, sliced or cubed (originally boneless, skinless chicken breast)
3 tablespoons lime juice
2 teaspoons Thai red curry paste

Garnish
½ cup cilantro leaves
2 serrano chiles, thinly sliced
2 scallion, thinly sliced
1 lime, cut into wedges

• Heat oil in a large saucepan and add lemon grass, shallots, cilantro, and 1 tablespoon of soy sauce. Cook over medium heat until softened, 2-5 minutes.
• Add vegetable broth and 1 can of coconut milk; bring to a simmer. Cover, reduce heat to low, and simmer for 10 minutes.
• Pour broth through a fine-mesh sieve and discard solids. Return broth to saucepan.
• Add remaining can of coconut milk and sugar to broth and bring to a simmer.
• Reduce heat to medium, add mushrooms, and cook 2-3 minutes.
• Add seitan, and cook for another 1-3 minutes. Remove from heat.
• Combine lime juice, curry paste, and remaining 2 tablespoons soy sauce in a small bowl; add to soup.
• Garnish individual soup-filled bowls with cilantro, chiles, and scallions. Serve soup with lime wedges.

Vietnamese Hot And Sour Soup

I’ve been known to do some crazy things for food – like drive over three hours to eat at a favorite restaurant. Sometimes these trips are shorter. When I lived in SC, I would make the 1 ½ hour trip to Charlotte, NC to eat at Huong Viet, an excellent Vietnamese restaurant tucked away in a dinky strip mall. What dish made me drive so far? The hot and sour soup! This soup had to be good, because there's nothing to do in Charlotte, and I don’t normally order soup at restaurants, much less drive over an hour to eat soup.

This hot and sour soup has a tanginess that is imparted by tamarind (key ingredient), and is chock full of tofu, veggies, and pineapple. This is one of my favorite soups, but, it turns out, it may not be your favorite. I raved about this soup to my partner, and when he tasted it he was unimpressed. He also didn’t like the pineapple, which is my favorite part of the soup. I’ll put the recipe out there, though, in case there’s someone else out there that would enjoy the soup. This is not Huong Viet’s recipe, but one I found that is similar. I have no idea where I got the recipe from; I’ve been using it for about ten years.

Vietnamese Hot And Sour Soup

3 tablespoons tamarind pulp
1 shallot
2 tablespoons vegetable oil
½ tablespoon chili paste
½ medium onion, cut coarsely
1 teaspoon garlic, minced
2 tablespoons soy sauce
5 cups water
2 teaspoons sugar
1 tablespoon lime juice
1 teaspoon salt
1 cup pineapple, cut into chunks
1 can straw mushrooms, drained and rinsed
½ can baby corn, cut lengthwise, drained and rinsed
½ pound tofu, fried
3 medium tomatoes, cut into wedges
tops of celery with leaves
1-2 cups mung bean sprouts
fresh basil

• Pour ½ cup of boiling water over tamarind pulp and let soak for 30 minutes. Drain and save water from pulp. Discard pulp.
• Heat oil, and fry shallot. Set aside.
• Add chili, onion, garlic, and soy sauce to hot pan and sauté.
• Add water, reserved tamarind juice, sugar, lime juice, and salt to sautéed onion mix, and bring to a boil for a couple of minutes.
  
• Right before serving, add pineapple, mushrooms, baby corn, tofu, tomatoes, celery tops, and bean sprouts. You don’t want to really cook the vegetables, or else the tomatoes will fall apart, and the celery leaves and bean sprouts will lose their crunch.
• Garnish with fried shallots, and fresh basil.

Matzo Ball Soup

Passover is still going on, which means All Things Matzo!

I’m usually curious about food on the ethnic aisle at the grocery store, but I must say that the boring Manischewitz packaging and the jars of testicular-looking gefilte fish in the Jewish section have kept me moving along with my buggy.

Sometimes it helps to have someone open you up new experiences, as is the case with matzo ball soup. I tried it for the first time last year and fell in love with it.

It’s a very simple soup – matzo dumplings in a soup broth. What I love about the soup is the texture of the balls. They are light and spongy and lots of fun to put in your mouth and squish.

Follow the recipe on the box and perfectly light and spongy floaters result. I’m not sure how some people get theirs to be dense, heavy sinkers. Every body has a preference– floaters or sinkers.

So, grab a box of matzo ball soup and try it if you've never done so. Just shield your eyes from the jars of gefilte fish as you reach for the box.

To get you through the week here's a hip-hop matzo song.