Ketchup Soup!

So all of my past entries have been about soup. This is not entirely a coincidence. I made a big pot of stock, so now I have ready-made broth for all kinds of different soups. Given that all of the soups have yielded leftovers, I suspect I'll be eating (or should that be drinking?) soup for quite some time. Today's meal sounds pretty ghetto*, even for me: especially given the story of how I acquired the ketchup. I wanted some ketchup to put on my veggie burgers so I asked a friend to give me some of her ketchup packages when she bought a lunch. She did, though I was roundly mocked for of it. Still, mockery is worth getting free food. Today's recipe is modified from Mark Bittman's Egg Noodles With Soy Broth so it was probably not entirely on the level for me to go with the title I picked. Still, ketchup is the most unusual ingredient in it. It adds a nice flavour to the soup, but is by no means as overpowering as I feared it might be when I was cooking.

Noodles with Soy-Ketchup Broth

3 cups water/stock

2 tbsp soy sauce

2 tbsp ketchup

1/2 tablespoon rice vinegar

A few drops sesame oil

1 chili, diced

1/2 pound noodles (but see below)

Bring a large pot of water to a boil and salt it. Bring 3 cups of liquid to a boil. I didn't want to go full on stock with this, so I cut 1c stock with 2 cups water. One the stock/water mixture is boiling turn the heat down so the water is only gently bubbling: add the soy sauce, ketchup, vinegar and diced chili. Stir and let simmer. Add the noodles to large pot and cook until they're done, so not yet mushy. Divide noodles into bowls and pour in the broth. Sprinkle with sesame oil.

Serves 2 but without adding something like tofu this isn't a very substantial meal (I had more food after). I'd recommend using this as a starter and serving more people with it.

I actually have no idea how much 1/2 lb of noodles is so I just eyeballed how much Bittman used, and used half that. I probably could've added more. In lieu of sriracha sauce or a dried chili, I used one from my garden.

*I use the term ghetto only in the most respectful sense, e.g. "When I was at Queen's I lived in the student ghetto".