Spicy Miso Soup with Chicken, Mushrooms and Soba Noodles

I’m introducing a new category into my blog: quick fix. I already have one called  “easy peasy”, but easy peasy doesn’t always equal to quick. Some simple things can take quite a while to cook. Like, for instance, a majority of braised meats, which, as a rule, take no more than a half hour of prep work, but up to 5-6 hours of actual braising time. Quick fixes, on the other hand, are really fast, but not necessarily super easy to make.

My today’s dish is both a quick fix and easy to make. It’s also perfect for a rainy summer day like today, though it would be appropriate for any season.

You will need:

• 6-7 cups dashi stock (recipe in the next post)
• 3-4 Tbsp shiro miso paste (look for it in Central Market on in Asian stores like Uwajimaya, HT Market, Ranch 99)
• 1 tsp Sriracha sauce, more or less to your liking
• 4-5 green onions, both white and green parts, sliced thinly on the bias
• 1 large garlic clove, finely chopped
• A package of bunashimeji mushrooms (again check Central Market, Uwajimaya, Ranch 99 or HT Market), can take shiitake or maitake instead
• 1 large chicken breast, cut lengthwise into 3-4 wide strips and sliced across pretty thinly into a bite size pieces
• A generous pinch of salt
• A generous pinch of black pepper
• 2-3 generous handfuls of cooked soba noodles (buckwheat noodles) or other Asian noodles to your liking
• 2 boiled chicken eggs (soft or hard boiled to your liking), cooled, halved or quartered

Divide the noodles and eggs halves or quarters between the serving bowls. This amount of ingredients will work for 4 soups, served as dinner starters, or three soups, served as whole meals, or two soups for   really hungry eaters or a couple of no-kidding Ramen lovers.

 

In a pot, bring dashi stock to a light simmer. Add miso paste and Sriracha and incorporate them into the stock with a whisk. Season with salt and black pepper.

Add mushrooms, green onions and garlic all at once and let the stock get back to a boil on a medium high heat. Cook the soup for half a minute and add the chicken breast. Now again bring the soup back to a simmer and remove from the heat immediately. This will ensure that the thinly sliced chicken meat will not get overcooked and stay tender and juicy.

Ladle the soup to the bowls and serve right away. Hot stock will give some of its heat to warm up the cold noodles, thus making the whole soup just the right temperature.