temple soup

Temple, as in my body is a.

I don't know about you guys but it has just been one of those weeks.  One of those weeks where you're busy but unmotivated at the same time; where you're too tired to cook and just grab whatever's on hand; where you're too frazzled to think beyond the next day let alone all the other things you've got to do between now and Christmas; and where you become a hermit because of the unpredictable torrential rain that keeps appearing out of nowhere!

So last night I made this soup, a delicious, tangy, noodle soup that took all of 15 minutes to make, and we could feel it doing us good as we slurped it up, noodles slapping us on the cheeks as we did.  It's perfect food for when it's muggy and your clothes are sticky, but the rain won't stop pouring.  It's also a wonderful remedy when you need to restore some balance to your temple.

Other ways I'm trying to restore balance this weekend:

• Get some fresh air.  I've been trapped inside too much this week
• Stock the freezer with a big chunky minestrone soup or a lentil walnut lasagne or something else delicious that will freeze and mean we can have a quick easy dinner on nights when it's just too hard and it's too cold for salad
• Change the sheets that have seen too much tossing and turning this week and iron the new ones with lavender water.  
• Make some serious headway on the third and final part of my novel
• Spend some quality time with hubby (I think he wants to see the last Harry Potter!)
• Pick some flowers and tidy my rain-ravaged garden
• Call my mum.

Anyhoo, here's temple soup!  More an idea than a recipe, mix and match to suit yourself and remember it's all about ease, good flavour and restoring the balance!

Temple soup

Ingredients:

Sesame oil (I like the flavour)/olive oil/cooking spray
1 leek, thinly sliced
Large piece of fresh ginger, grated or cut finely
200g firm tofu (or 1 small can flavoured beancurd, like what I found in Chinatown)
1 large courgette (zucchini), grated
1 large carrot, grated
1 red pepper, cut into strips
1 can baby corn, drained and chopped
2 tablespoons miso paste
500ml boiling water
2 tablespoons vegetable stock powder (Marigold)
1 pack of your favourite noodles (I got a packet of Taiwan noodles, which were dried but still so soft, they felt like they were fresh)
Soy sauce, to taste
Sweet chilli sauce, to taste
Fresh lime juice, to squeeze over
To serve: chopped spring onions, fresh coriander, bean sprouts, Sriracha hot sauce

Put the kettle on.  Place your oil or cooking spray in a heavy stockpot and place over medium heat.  When hot, add leeks and ginger, saute for a few minutes until soft and fragrant; add water if it sticks.

Add the tofu and vegetables, saute for a minute or so, then add miso paste, boiling water and stock powder.  Bring to the boil, add the noodles, soy and sweet chilli sauce.  Stir well.  Boil until the noodles are cooked; about 3 minutes.  Taste the broth and see if it needs anything: more soy, sweet chilli, stock.

Ladle into bowls and squeeze over fresh lime, drizzle some hot chilli sauce over and feel it doing you good as you breathe in the fresh zing of flavours, slurp up those noodles, watch a trashy movie, and feel yourself calm and slow down, even if it's just for now.

PS: Overnight, our lunch portions solidified as the noodles soaked up all the broth, so you can either add some more boiling water to them to make it a soup again OR do as I did and add some kale and then reheat like a stifry.  Yummo.