It’s true what they say: gorgeous gorgeous girls love soup. No matter the season, no matter the cuisine, you will find me scarfing down a bowl of soup. I love soup, and I think most people think it is a daunting thing to cook. But I am here to show you how easy it is to make a bowlful of hot and comforting delight. Here are my favourite soup recipes, that have been taste-tested time and time again by yours truly.
- (boujie) Ramen
I want to start with the easiest and most well-known recipe- ramen. But this is not just any kind of instant ramen. As someone who ate ramen for at least two meals a day during finals season, I consider myself experienced with this cuisine. Let me tell you about the kind of ramen I make, the kind that makes me want to cook a second batch as soon as I’ve devoured the first. So firstly, get yourself some Ichiban ramen in the flavour miso. It’s not as salty as regular miso, but it is super flavourful. I usually only use half the packet. Then, I’ll prepare some bok choi and enoki mushrooms; both are generally found in most grocery stores. Things like these are great to add because you get more vegetables in your diet and add some nutritional value to your ramen. I’ll add the noodles, bok choi, mushrooms, and seasoning pack to the pot. I’ll let it start cooking and then I’ll head to my spice drawer, which is the easiest way to elevate your ramen. I add copious amounts of red pepper flakes, garlic powder, lemon pepper, paprika, and some soy sauce. And that’s it! Delicious, comforting, and flavourful ramen! If you want, you could add some pork belly, bean sprouts, corn, a hard-boiled egg marinated in soy sauce, or other soupy vegetables and meats. The world is wide and the ramen recipes are endless!
- Ginger Bokchoi
I don’t exactly know what to call this one, so I will name it after its primary ingredients. For this recipe, get yourself a pot, and dump in some chopped onions, shiitake mushrooms, and minced ginger. If your pot isn’t non-stick, it might be a bit weird, but don’t worry- your pot will be fine. Wait until the mushrooms are a light shade of brown all over and then pour in about two cups of vegetable stock, with one cup of water. Mix that up and add a little minced garlic. Then once it reaches a boil, add in a bunch of bok choi. Once your bokchoi has reached al dente texture, go ahead and add some soba/buckwheat noodles. They cook very fast unlike regular noodles, so make sure to keep stirring. Once everything is at your desired texture and softness, add in some tofu and green onions. Put these in just long enough so they get hot. Voila! You’ve made delicious vegetable noodle soup! Shout out to Tiktok for the recipe inspo.
- Doenjang Dijae
Okay, now this is the best soup I have ever made. I eat it multiple times per week because it is so simple and so mouth-wateringly delicious. This Korean soup will become a staple in your life, I promise. Like most soups, it can be adapted to fit your taste buds or what ingredients you own. I must say this is nowhere near the recipe I found years ago. So we can just call this Nicole’s Doenjang Dijae Variant. Technically, “doenjang dijae” just means soybean paste stew, so the varieties are endless. So, for my take on this, start by boiling around three cups of water. Whilst this is heating up, chop some onions, Thai chillis, garlic, and potatoes (I use Yukon Gold potatoes, but anything works). Once the water is boiling, place these ingredients in the pot and grab two different types of pastes- soybean paste and gochujang. Gochujang is just a red pepper paste, and it’s just the right amount of spicy. Add approximately a spoonful of soybean paste, and around a quarter as much of gochujang. This all depends on your personal preference, but too much paste might make you not taste anything else, so play around with it. Let this boil until your potatoes are about halfway cooked, then add in sliced zucchini. I’ve also started adding in bok choi at this stage. I love bok choi, sue me! It depends on my mood, but you could also add rice noodles to elevate this dish. Once everything in the soup is cooked well, add in some green onions and tofu. Once again, just make sure these ingredients, primarily tofu, are hot. I can’t imagine anything worse than having hot soup and biting into cold tofu on top. Well, that’s it! I can’t explain how good this soup is on a rainy day, so please, trust me, and run, not walk, to your nearest Asian grocery store.
- Chicken soup
Ah, chicken soup. Speaking of rainy days, this is a classic “cuddling up inside your house watching Netflix” type of soup. It’s surprisingly easy too. There are a lot of different methods to getting the base, or stock, of chicken soup. I’ve experimented with chicken bones and feet to make the stock before, because it is sustainable to use all parts of the animal, but it doesn’t really fit the “easy” adjective in this article title. I have little cubes of chicken bouillon stock that I will just put in my boiling water, and then let dissolve. For vegetables, you can genuinely add anything you have lying around into this soup. But the most common vegetables for this are carrots, celery, and onions. But you could also add broccoli, potatoes, mushrooms, bok choi, zucchini, peas, turnips, or whatever your heart desires. As long as you have some vegetables, this recipe will be full of nutrients. Let all your veggies cook through and add some spices to taste. I prefer just adding just some pepper (as store-bought chicken stock already has a lot of sodium), but feel free to dig through your spice drawer to see what works best for you (bay leaves also had tons of flavour!). I got some shredded chicken from the grocery store, but you can use leftover chicken from a previous recipe, or buy a rotisserie chicken and shred it yourself. Either way, dump your chicken in and let simmer for a few minutes. The chicken should definitely already have been entirely cooked, so you’re just letting it heat up and make the broth more flavourful. Pour into a bowl, and serve with a side of bread, and there you have it! A comforting bowl of chicken soup for those colds we all inevitably get from classes.
- Pasta e Fagioli
Pasta e Fagioli, or pasta and beans, is a hearty soup/stew that is painstakingly easy to make given the amazing taste. I have made this a couple of times before after seeing it on Pinterest, and I was not disappointed. This, like the chicken soup, uses vegetables such as carrots, celery, and onions. The Holy Trinity of soup ingredients, one might say. Sautee these veggies in a pot, and once slightly soft, add in chicken or vegetable stock and pasta. For your pasta, the standard recipe calls for ditalini, which I could not find at the store. Any small pasta shape will do, however, as I used shell pasta. You can add canned tomatoes, however, I chose not to as I despise tomato soup and didn’t want to emulate it too much. Apologies to tomato soup. When your pasta is al dente, add in white kidney beans (or any beans, really) and spices. Red pepper flakes, pepper, parsley, and Italian seasoning are my choice of seasonings. Cook for another couple of minutes, and then serve!
And there you have it! The soup recipes that warm my soul weekly, or daily, if I’m being honest. I hope you get to make at least one of these someday and fulfil your destiny of becoming a gorgeous gorgeous soup girl.