Spicy Asian Noodle Soup

I've been reading and sampling recipes from Cooking Light for as long as I can remember. More often than not I'm thrilled with what they have to offer, but occasionaly their dishes seem to fall flat. This weekend I made their Spicy Asian Chicken and Noodle Soup (September 2011 issue) and was almost satisfied with the recipe. I omitted the rotisserie chicken and carrots, have done some tweaking and think you'll be happy to try this spicy, low cal, low fat variation. It's a perfect appetizer, or with the addition of one of my many Asian meatball recipes, a hearty main course that comes together in a snap. All ingredients are available in your local supermarket.

Spicy Asian Noodle Soup
adapted from Cooking Light

4-1/2 cups fat free low sodium chicken broth
1/2 cup thinly sliced snow peas
1 can (7 oz) corn
2 tsp Sriracha sauce (I use Huy Fong)
2 tsp lower sodium soy sauce
1/2 tsp kosher salt
1/4 tsp ground black pepper
1-1/2 tsp Thai red curry paste (I use Thai Kitchen)
1 (2 inch) piece of peeled fresh ginger
Juice of one lime

*****
4 oz dry linguini (I use Dreamfields-low carb)
1/3 cup sliced scallions

Bring first 9 ingredients to a simmer in a medium saucepan (chicken broth through ginger) and keep warm on low heat. Cook linguini according to package directions, drain and rinse. Discard ginger chunk from soup pot, add lime juice and stir. In each of 4 bowls, add equal amounts of linguini and ladle broth and vegetables over each serving. Top with chopped scallions.

If you want to make this a complete meal, try adding these chicken meatballs. They really round out the dish. I guess the pun's intended.

Chicken Meatballs
1 pound ground chicken
1/2 tsp sambal olek
2 tsp grated ginger
2 tsp minced garlic
1 slice of white or wheat bread ground in food processor or spice mill
1 large egg, beaten
1/2 tsp kosher salt
1/4 tsp ground black pepper
2 T minced cilantro (I use Gourmet Garden Cilantro Herb Blend)

Pre heat oven to 350 degrees and line a baking sheet with aluminum foil and mist it with cooking spray. Set aside. In medium size bowl combine all ingredients except chicken. When all ingredients are incorporated, add chicken and mix gently with fingertips. You're now ready to make the meat balls. I made sixteen 1-1/2 to 1-1/4 inch meatballs out of this mixture. Place meatballs on baking sheet and bake 25 minutes. Add to your Spicy Asian Noodle Soup and enjoy.


Re-Mix: The possibilities are endless when it comes to switching out the veggies in this soup. I think I'd like to try it with bok choy or cabbage in place of the snow peas. Some straw mushrooms, baby corn and bean sprouts would also be nice. And if you want to replace the meatballs with another protein, a sliced hard boiled egg would certainly do the trick. Other garnishes? How about chopped peanuts or a sprinkling of fried won tons.