Dinner: Monday 27.05.08

For a while now I've had a desire for a slurpy, noodly dumpling soup.

I've made several batches of dumplings lately and they make a delicious snack, but they're just never enough to constitute a whole meal. Especially not for a 6ft-5 boy with a raging appetite for stogy carbs. The same has been with soba noodles. Many of my favourite meals of late have involved the slippery, wholesome sensation of soba noodles. They make a fantastic salad, but there is rarely enough for leftovers. So why not combine the two?

This also gave me the opportunity to try the scrambled egg cooked into the brothy soup trick that has been on my mind. The descriptions I've read about watching golden egg bloom like a flower in hot broth have inspired me.

To add to the mix, the boy pulled a load of beetroot out of the garden on Sunday and it had to be used. Beetroot, I have learned, works best with a salty, astringent counterpart - a strong fetta or pungent blue vein often do the trick - but why not soy sauce?

Nearing the tail-end of our shopping week, I threw in this dish whatever morsels the fridge had to offer, which is why my quantities may seem a little vague. So consider the list of ingredients entirely open to interpretation, this is more of an idea for a meal than a recipe for one, really it doesn't matter, use your instinct on what will work well. It was a bit of a gamble with no set of instructions to follow, but the result was very tasty - the beetroot and soy balanced well, giving a wonderful base for the slippery noodles and pudgy dumplings to soak up. And the colour! The soup takes on the hot pink of the beetroot and would be shocking if it weren't so pretty.

Dumpling and soba noodle soup with beetroot

Ingredients:
1/8 large cabbage
4 mushrooms
1 onion
2 chillies
1 bunch coriander
2 kafir lime leaves
sesame oil
soy sauce
fish sauce
vegetable stock
1 tbs brown sugar
sambal olek
1 clove garlic, crushed
1 large or several small beetroot, cubed
1 package gow gee dumpling wrappers
1 package soba noodles
1 egg, mixed with a fork
salt to taste

In a food processor, blend till finely chopped:
1/8 cabbage
4 mushrooms
1 onion
2 chillies
a sprig of coriander
1 kafir lime leaf

Heat 1tbs sesame oil in a large pot and add vege mixture and salt and fry until fragrant and starting to brown. Remove from pan to a bowl to cool.

In the same pot, make a vegetable stock (I used Masel cubes) and add:
2 tbs soy sauce
1 clove crushed garlic
a few drops of fish sauce
a few drops of sesame oil
1tbs brown sugar
1 tbs sambal olek
1 finely sliced kafir lime leaf
1 large or several smaller cubed beetroot

Bring covered stock slowly to the boil and test for flavour.
Make dumplings by placing a teaspoon of the vege mix into the centre of a gow gee wrapper, gather edges at the top to form a sealed parcel.

Add dumplings to the stock pot and have on low boil for 3 minutes.
Add 1 package of soba noodles and stir soup gently for another 4 minutes until noodles are cooked. Turn off heat and add 1 mixed egg to pot and stir til cooked. Add chopped coriander and serve in bowls.