Udon in buttery tomato and soy broth

I made soup tonight. Unlike my last attempt I (mostly) followed the recipe. I honestly chose this recipe because the photo looked great in Bon Appétit. I’m a sucker for food porn. I’m not above it. I indulge in a little over-produced food glitz.

Tonight’s takes:

Husband: “It tastes like Tom-Yum. But not sour or hot. And it’s lacking protein.”

Mom: “This is really good Ellisa.”

Helen (6 years old): “I think it’s good. I like it. I don’t love it. Good texture. Good flavour. Like the sauce. I think my brother is killing it. Look at him eating those noodles.” 5 minutes later: “This is really good. I’m staring to think I actually love it. My mouth is getting used to the flavours. Now I love it.”

Hector (3 1/2 years old): “I don’t like the pepper. I like the noodles and the tomato sauce.”

What I used:

• 2 onions

• 4 garlic cloves

• 1-ish inch chunk of ginger

• 1 tsp Chinese five spice

• 5 canned tomatoes (from a can of whole tomatoes)

• 1 269g package Udon noodles

• 3 tbsp soy sauce

• just under 1/4 cup butter

• 4 green onions

• handful cilantro leaves

• olive oil

• salt

What I did:

Put lots of oil into large Le Creuset. Turned burner onto medium.

Sliced onions.

Added them to the pot with a big pinch of salt. Turned heat down to medium-low. Cooked slowly.

Sliced garlic.

Once onions were soft (about 7 minutes of cooking), added garlic to the pot.

Assembled ginger, spice, tomatoes.

Grated ginger.

Cooked onions and garlic until the started to brown. About 10-12 minutes. Turned heat up a bit about halfway through. Added ginger and five spice to the pot.

Cooked ginger and five spice until fragrant. About a minute. Added tomatoes. Literally just took 5 tomatoes out of the can.

Smushed tomatoes with wooden spoon. Stirred and scraped brown bits off the bottom of the pot. Cooked until thickened and starting to brown. About 3 minutes.

Added 5 cups of water and another pinch of salt. Got water on for cooking Udon noodles.

Kept broth simmering. Added Udon to boiling water. Boiled for 4 minutes.

Drained and rinsed thoroughly per package directions.

Added soy sauce and butter to broth.

Sliced green onions and tore cilantro leaves off stems.

Served! Placed Udon in bowl. Added hot broth. Topped with onions and cilantro.

Next time:

It tasted delicious. PK was right, it could have used a bit of protein because I served this as the entire meal tonight. Next time I’d add tofu to the soup. Other than that, the substitutions I made to the original recipe worked out good. I’d do them again next time. I’ll definitely make this imitation hot-and-sour soup that isn’t hot-or-sour again.

😋😋😋

-Ellisa