Malaysian-Style Noodle Soup

Back when we used to live in a more urban area, my husband and I liked going to a local Malaysian restaurant for Prawn Mee and Tom Yum soups on rainy Sundays. It’s been a while since we’ve had a nice spicy, fishy noodle soup, so I thought I’d try to make my own at home using the curry paste left over from the tofu curry I made a while ago.

Once again, I’m not claiming this to be in any way authentic. I just threw it together using taste and memory to replicate what we used to order back in the day, and I have to say, it came pretty close. Maybe next time I’ll make it with pork instead of chicken.

I’m sure there are plenty of other ways this soup could be done. Peeling the shrimp and simmering the shells and legs (and heads, if possible) in the stock to extract the shrimp flavor before assembling and simmering the soup would have been a good way to avoid getting your hands all goopy when you’re having the soup. But oh well. That’s what napkins are for.

Malaysian-Style Noodle Soup – serves 8 – 10

1 lb boneless, skinless chicken breast
1 lb shrimp, deveined, shells and legs left on
2 T canola oil
4 T red curry paste
4 C fish stock
6-8 whole shitake mushrooms, stems trimmed
1/4 C cilantro, chopped
2 scallions, chopped
2/3 C dry white wine
2 carrots, julienned
16 ounces of dry rice noodles, cooked (boil and drain)

Julienne the chicken and toss with 1 tablespoon of canola oil and 2 tablespoons of red curry paste. Place in a non-reactive glass dish and marinate in refrigerator for 2-4 hours. In a bowl, toss the shrimp with 1 tablespoon of canola oil and 2 tablespoons of red curry paste. Cover and marinate in refrigerator for 2-4 hours.

In a large stockpot, bring fish stock to a simmer. Add wine, shitakes, cilantro, scallions and chicken to the pot. Allow to simmer for 15 minutes.

Add shrimp and carrots and allow to simmer another 15 minutes until shrimp is cooked.

To serve, place a serving of noodles in the bottom of a bowl and cover with soup (this way the noodles can’t get soggy and over cooked).

Ingredient origins in order of distance: The scallions and cilantro came from plants in my kitchen, which were grown at a local herb farm. I used my homemade fish stock, which is made from local fish and trimmings from mostly local veggies – it lended a lot of flavor to the soup. The wine was made right down the street. The chicken was antibiotic/hormone free, from New Jersey. The Shitakes were from Pennsylvania – not so local, but at least that’s under 500 miles of travel. The shrimp was wild and came from the Gulf of Mexico. The carrots were grown in California, but organic. The canola oil came from “the USA and Canada”. The rice noodles and curry paste came from Thailand.