The Best Vegetarian Noodle Soup for a Cold or Flu

I’m pretty sure that everyone I’ve come into contact with in the last month is currently wiping their nose with a tissue or making sad little “I’m sick” noises. And I’m unhappy to report that I suffered through this nor’easter of a cold last week. One of the few things that made me feel better was this soup.

I’ve gotta thank my dad for inspiring this “sick soup” – when I had a cold when I was little he used to make me “tea” with boiling water, fresh chopped garlic and ginger, honey, lemon and probably something else that made the whole thing sorta vile and un-tea like. (Please note that no actual tea, herbal or otherwise, was used.)

But, now being adult I can appreciate his wisdom and have turned the active ingredients of his “tea” into something you’ll actually want to eat. The garlic and ginger have antibacterial properties to help fight your cold and flu, thyme helps control and sooth a cough, spinach is a traditional strengthener and tonic.  The tofu and noodles provide sustenance and energy. And while the bamboo shoots may seem a little out of place, the crunchy texture benefits your senses of adventure and humor.  Imperative when you’re sick!

So, I made this soup last week for myself but now wave 3 of this sickness is going around the household and the Li’l Sis needed a bit of a pick me up. Not only that but the Sistaster sent me this scathing email about having to use the food that’s already in the fridge:

“I will go to the store. That’s fine. But I’m not buying things other
than lunch/breakfast stuff until there’s an outline for all the food in
the refrdigetor (sic).”

What’s additionally nice about this soup is that you probably already have the ingredients or feasible substitutes on hand and the whole recipe only takes 30 minutes, short enough for any sickie deal with.

I surprised the Sisters (who went off apple picking – sick and without an outline about what they were going to DO with the apples they picked) with a big pot of this soup and an experimental macaroni-and-peas casserole, pretty much emptying the fridge, freezer, and pantry with the exception of the beets that I got at the farmers market last week. I decided that they were too pretty to cook so watercolored them instead. I’m thinking roasted beets and garlicky beet greens soon! Get ye to the grocery store Sistaster - we’re out of garlic!

Update: The Sistaster went to the store and made a delicious apple crumble with her handpicked apples. And she bought garlic.

Serves: 4-5
Time: 30 minutes

The Best Vegetarian Noodle Soup for a Cold or Flu

10 cups veggie broth
3 carrots, cut into coins or half-rounds
4 stalks of celery, chopped
1/2 tsp thyme
8 oz can bamboo shoots, drained
8 oz tofu, cut into small cubes
10 oz frozen spinach or other leafy green
8 oz ribbon noodles
6 cloves of garlic, minced
½ inch of ginger, minced
juice of ½ - 1 lemon
hot sauce

Put the broth in a large soup pan and bring to a low boil. Meanwhile, chop the veggies.

Toss in the carrots and celery and cook for 5 – 10 minutes. Add the thyme, bamboo, tofu, frozen spinach and noodles and cook until the noodles are almost done, adding the garlic, ginger and lemon at the last minute to keep as “raw” as possible as this is when they have the most antibacterial effect. The pungency of the garlic and lemon and balmy feeling of the thyme feel good on a ragged throat.

Serve steaming hot with plenty of hot sauce – both the steam and the heat from the hot sauce will help clear those sinuses!

This entry was posted on Tuesday, October 3rd, 2006 at 9:21 am and is filed under Soups & Stews. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.