Japanese Noodles with Broth

Work in progress. This recipe still needs some tweaks, but I thought I would post it in case you wanted to tweak it yourself. All that is going on is some asian noodles, in some homemade broth with some fresh veggies on top.

First, I would rather have rice noodles instead of udon (although, Scot said he likes the udon). Second, I would keep the chicken out. What I did when making the broth, was boil the chicken for about 30 minutes, and then I removed all the meat and returned the bones to continue making the broth. Then, I shredded the meat to eat with the soup. The chicken just didn't have any flavor (which is what I thought, but I thought I'd try anyways). Last, I would add some fresh herbs like cilantro and basil. Kind of like pho, I suppose.

The broth was really good though. I liked it a lot. I wish I had some of the hot chili sauce to put in it.

Another note: Before boiling, I cut the breasts off the whole chicken to save them for tomorrow's chicken piccata. I actually even split them and pounded them out too. Sweeeeet. I almost always buy whole chickens rather than the different parts. It is much cheaper and I feel hardcore butchering the chicken.

Oh yeah, I sprained my ankle. Like for real. I have a huge black boot and crutches. I rolled it last night at basketball and it pretty much hurt really bad. It was pretty painful all night long and when I woke up, I couldn't put any pressure on it/walk. At all. Hopping is just too much work. I decided to go to the Dr.'s to get some crutches and they hooked me up with a lot more. And made me get an x-ray. I never thought sprained ankles hurt. People get them all the time and I always thought they weren't a big deal. Geeeeez...they hurt bad. The black boot is kind of amazing, though. Sorry, for the non-food interlude.

Japanese Noodles in Broth

inspired by the Joy of Cooking and Pioneer Woman

1 whole cut up chicken (4-5 lbs)

2 carrots, diced

2 stalks of celery, diced

1 small green chile pepper, diced

1 small onion

1/4 cup soy sauce

2 tbsp sugar

1 tbsp salt

1 lb udon noodles

scallions, sliced

shredded carrots

bean sprouts

seven-spice mix (shichimi) or five-spice powder

lime

Cover chicken in about 2-4 quarts of water. Bring to a boil, reduce to a low simmer for 30 min.

Remove chicken from pot, let cool, and shred. Place whole onion in broth. Return bones to broth and simmer on low, covered, for 45 minutes.

Remove bones from broth with a slotted spoon or sieve. Add the carrot, celery and peppers to the pot. Stir to combine and simmer for ten minutes to meld flavors.

In another pot, boil water for udon noodles. When water is ready, make udon noodles according to package directions. Drain.

Add soy sauce, sugar, and salt gradually. Taste and adjust seasonings.

To serve, place cooked noodles and shredded chicken in bottom of a soup bowl. Ladle broth over. Sprinkle with seven-spice mix. Top with scallions, carrots, and bean sprouts. Serve with lime wedge.

(Servings: 4, Prep time: 15 min., Cook time: 2 hours, Difficulty: Easy)

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