This is a recipe modified from Marion Grosby’s Marion: Recipes and stories from a hungry cook (she used pork in hers). Because the kids refused to eat it – more on that later – it fed Adam and me for two nights running. The portion sizes are pretty generous.
Ingredients
100g vermicelli noodles
4 garlic cloves, crushed
1 tsp white pepper
1/4 cup fish sauce
2 tblsp soy sauce
2 tsp white sugar
500g chicken mince
1/2 cup chopped coriander leaves and stems
4 spring onions, chopped
2 cups shredded wombok
1. Cover and soak the noodles according to pack instructions until they are soft. Drain and set aside.
2. Mix the garlic and pepper into a paste. Put half of the paste in a large saucepan with 2 tblsp of fish sauce, 1 tblsp soy sauce, 1 tsp sugar and 1.25 litre of water. Bring to boil and bring back to a simmer.
3. Meanwhile, mix the mince and coriander and the remainder of the garlic paste, fish sauce, soy sauce and sugar until combined. I used my hands, but you could use a food processor.
4. Use your hands to roll the mixture into ping-pong size balls and then drop into the soup. Once all in, it should take a few minutes to cook (test to check, I did). Add noddles and spring onion and simmer for 1 more minute and turn off heat.
5. When serving, put equal amounts of wombok into a bowl and pour the soup over the top, making sure all components are evenly distributed. Top with more coriander, if desired.
Notes:
1. I really, really liked this soup. Arguably my favourite meal discovered on the challenge so far, which makes it all worthwhile. As Riley is fussy I was expecting his refusal, but Keira’s was a surprise. She didn’t like the coriander or the fish sauce.
2. The original recipe called for white peppercorns, but I only had the ground white pepper.
3. Marion has a sauce recipe to go on the side, but I had mine with just a dash of sweet chili and extra soy sauce (I love soy sauce).
(Shot taken before I added the noodles, which I forgot to do until just before serving! My methodology is scatter-shot at best.)
This is week twelve and thirteen of the 1 recipe a week for a year ‘living list’ challenge. (12 & 13/52)
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Wait, where’s the second recipe, you ask?
Well, last week, I attempted to make eggs benedict. My hollandaise sauce was dreadful. DREADFUL, I say. I used a Woman’s Weekly recipe and I feel horribly disenchanted now because they failed me (just kidding)(only a little). The sauce didn’t thicken despite my doing everything they told me to. I don’t like talking about my failures, but in the spirit of the challenge I will.
I’m sure there’s a metaphor for life to be found in this bowl of vinegary muck…
… somewhere.
