Photograph by Anna Pruitt
It’s the new year and with all the resolutions planned, one in particular never changes—to eat better and healthier. Cutting down fats, eating less sweets, and consuming more vegetables are the things we need to be doing. My problem is not that I have a sweet tooth, but a rather salty tooth. I would at any given time prefer to bite into crunchy salty bacon over a ,decadent piece of chocolate cake. When I am really busy I tend to eat worse than normal, so starting today, I will strve to do better.
This noodle soup will help me stick to my healthy eating plan. It’s tasty and easy to make. You will never think that good-for-you is boring. If you want this to be vegetarian, just substitute vegetable stock for chicken stock and skip the pork. This recipe also works well with ground chicken or ground turkey.
Glass Noodle Soup
10 cups homemade or store bought chicken stock
1 individual small bundle of glass noodles
1 lb ground pork
3 cloves garlic, finely minced
½ tsp white pepper
½ tsp coriander powder
2 tbsp soy sauce
½ cup green onion, cut in two-inch pieces
1 (12 oz) container of silken tofu
1 cucumber, peeled and cut diagonally into ¼ inch thick pieces
¼ cup chopped cilantro
¼ cup soy sauce or fish sauce
Dried chili flakes (optional)
Mix the ground pork, garlic, white pepper, cilantro root, and soy sauce together and form into 1-inch balls (you can freeze at this point).
Bring stock to boil over med hi heat, add pork balls and glass noodles, cooked until pork is no longer pink and noodle becomes translucent, about 10 minutes.
Add cucumber and tofu, cook for 5 more minutes.
Season with fish sauce and green onion and turn off heat. Before serving, sprinkle with cilantro.
