A Japanese-style noodle soup that's full of healthful things: mushrooms, yams, carrots—and even salty, savory, vitamin-and mineral-rich seaweed. For details on the ingredients used in this dish, see "Ingredient Tips" at the end of the recipe.
Ingredients
Makes 4 to 6 servings
Broth:
Garnishes:
For broth:
Step 1
Bring broth and 3 cups water to simmer in large pot over medium heat. Add cilantro, mushrooms, sliced ginger, and lemongrass. Cover; simmer until mushrooms are tender, about 30 minutes. Rinse kombu; add to broth. Simmer 1 minute. Using tongs, remove kombu and mushrooms; discard kombu. Transfer mushrooms to work surface; cut off stems and discard. Cut each mushroom into 3 to 4 strips. Strain broth through fine-mesh strainer into another large pot; discard solids in strainer. Add tamari and rice vinegar to broth. DO AHEAD:Can be made 1 day ahead. Cover and chill mushrooms. Cool, cover, and chill broth.
For garnishes:
Step 2
Bring large pot of salted water to boil. Cook yams until just tender, 4 to 5 minutes. Using skimmer, transfer to medium bowl. Cook snow peas, cabbage, and carrots separately until crisp-tender (snow peas, 30 seconds; cabbage, 1 1/2 minutes; carrots, 2 minutes). Using skimmer, transfer vegetables to separate bowls. Reserve cooking liquid. DO AHEAD:Vegetables can be cooked 2 hours ahead. Let vegetables and liquid stand at room temperature.
Step 3
Bring cooking liquid to boil. Sprinkle with salt. Add noodles; cook until tender but still firm to bite, stirring often. Drain; rinse.
Step 4
Meanwhile, bring vegetable broth to simmer. Add green onions and ginger strips. Season with salt and pepper.
Step 5
Using tongs, divide noodles among bowls. Divide mushrooms, yams, snow peas, cabbage, and carrots among bowls, each in separate mound. Divide tofu, if using, among bowls. Ladle broth over and serve, passing sambal oelek and tamari separately.
Nutrition Per Serving
Lemongrass, an herb that resembles a green onion, has a mild lemony flavor.Kombu(a.k.a. kelp) is a variety of seaweed thats often used for making stock. It's usually sold dried.Tamariis a dark sauce made from soybeans.Udonis a thick wheat-or corn-based Japanese noodle.Sambal oelek, a spicy chili sauce, is a common ingredient in Indonesian and Chinese cooking. Look for these ingredients in the Asian foods section of some supermarkets and at Asian markets.
How would you rate Udon with Mushroom Broth, Cabbage, and Yams?
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Reviews (19)
Back to TopWhile this recipe is a bit time consuming, it's well worth the effort if only for the nutrition that's jam packed into every bowl. Grab your partner or a friend and get them chopping. It's a great cure for a cold or the body blahs.
Anonymous
2/5/2011
This is made more simply by using a "dashi": one ounce kombu brought just to a boil in 6 cups of water. Don't let it boil, remove it from the heat, remove kombu and stash in fridge. It keeps 4 or 5 days. When you're ready for soup you can add the tamari and vinegar & shitake right to the broth. Pre-cook the carrots, yams and noodles and whatever else and let people add what they want. Save the green onions and ginger until the very last. There are many variations on this: Miso, instead of tamari and vinegar; mirin and soy. Easy. Tasty. Kids know when something is fresh and clean. They'll like it. There is a way to pickle the kombu. Does anyone know it?
jchama
Oregon
1/13/2011
I hadn't read all of the instructions before starting the recipe -- big mistake. No kombu or dried shiitakes in the cupboard. But, the broth with fresh shiitakes turned out great and the soup tastes healthy and is quite satisfying. Not sure how to save all the lefvtovers, but looking forward to dinner tomorrow night!
Anonymous
Evanston, IL
11/28/2010
LOVE IT!
Anonymous
Toronto, On
10/21/2010
My kids thought this was great. That's a surprise. If only it wasn't so time consuming. But over all SUPERB!
Anonymous
8/29/2010
YUMMMYYYYY!!!!!!!!!!!
Anonymous
8/29/2010
I REALLY enjoyed this recipe. I made it for my wife on her request and was positive I wouldn't like it. To my surprise it was very good. The recipe was very easy too. Im no cook. I look foward to this again!!
Anonymous
Miami, FL
8/29/2010
I made this for my picky children one night. THEY LOVED IT. It is magnificent and very healthy. I tend to like my soup thick, so i added more noodles, DELISH!
VeggieBabe101
NY, NY
8/29/2010
I made this at the request of my son and his wife, I was cooking dinner for them, not having dinner with them so I didn't partake of this dish. However, I found it very odd that the recipe calls for Kombu which is simmered for one minute and then discarded. I wonder how much this could possibly add to the flavor of the broth and it seemed wasteful. The kids said it was ok but questioned why there was so much broth in proportion to the solids. It did seem very healthy. Would not choose to make this for myself and doubt the kids will request it again.
dumoyer
Sherwood, Or
4/20/2010
Healthy, light, easy (although time consuming) to make. the steps are all easy, but there are many of them. It is well worth it given how great all those colors and flavors look and taste.
vicnlubna
Santa Ana, CA
3/21/2010
Ok so its like 2.5 forks (really good). I wouldn't describe it as labor intensive, as its just some chopping and boiling of things, but it is very methodical. It took me about 45min to an hour to make (exclusive of the broth which I used my chicken stock because all vegetables are better when bathed in a little chicken stock), and the resulting dish is beautiful.
UrbanCleaver
Atlanta, GA
3/17/2010
This was waaaay too much work for the result. Tracking down all of the ingredients was difficult and quite expensive. I only have one large pot so that made things still more interesting. I understand the whole japanese "sushi mindset" idea of serving food simple and as raw as possible, but soup and crunchy half-raw veggies don't mix on my palette.
thespiff
rochester, ny
3/8/2010
All I can say is WOW, delicious! I usually fail at any type of Asian cuisine, but this was incredibly straight forward. This recipe is easily adaptable to any season, swapping out different veggies. Keeping the garnishes separate from the broth really adds a lot to the taste. Everything retains its own flavors and textures. I can't wait to make this again!
mnhoopes
Charlottesville, VA
2/23/2010
eversince, if you skipped all the veggies didn't you just end up with cabbage, mushroom and scallion? Rikerj I think you are supposed to split the noodles, veggies and broth in 4-6 bowls together not in separate bowls. That said, recipe looks good and I'll be back to rate once I make it!
Anonymous
Denver, CO
2/21/2010
I love all the ingredients in this soup and somehow, after following the directions to T, I found it lacking. Because all the veggies are cooked separately, it didn't come together the way I had hoped. I must say it is a very great looking soup though.
audretta
Tulsa, OK
2/19/2010
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