Today I had a bit an ‘off day’. The complete morning I was updating social media, edited some photos for my friends’ website and tried to learn myself a few tricks in PS and LR. Recently I got myself Lightroom CC and want to see what that ‘haze’ slider can do. Later, I will add a post about my findings. So what do you do when you have an ‘off day’ ? For myself I start cooking.

So here is the second post about food and today we gonna have Thai Noodle Soup.

Yesterday…

Actually I should have made some photos yesterday because I made beef burgers with spicy guacamole and a Rucola salad. The burger and salad were quite colourful.

If you are interested in the recipe click here. It’s also Paleo Food. The recipe is in German though, but you will get along. I gave my own stir to it as well. Here is the one and only shot from yesterday.

Today…

So here we go, Thai Noodle Soup. As I lived in Thailand for too long I think I can tell how noodle soup should look and taste.  Today I give it a bit my own variation as well… 🙂 I made some photos of the preparation and also from the ingredients.

First the main ingredient that gives the flavour is fried garlic. The wife loves it !  Once you have fried the garlic, save the oil, we gonna need that later.

Fry the garlic on medium heat and watch that the garlic doesn’t get too dark. (not tasty).

Second is the broth (chicken broth is the best for this) and the other ingredients like vegetables, meat balls and of course the noodles. The best is to make your broth self. The better your broth, the more taste your soup will have.

Third and last is the seasoning. This is up to you, you want it sweet, salty, sour, spicy or a combo of all. At any Thai Noodle stall or shop you will always see 4 jars with seasoning. 1 Rice vinegar with chilies, 2, chili flakes, 3 sugar and 4 peanuts. 4 Can also be different depending where you are in Thailand. In the south its crushed peanuts, in the north its fish sauce with chilis. Most places offer also small bottles with seasoning like fish sauce, thick soy sauce or rice vinegar.

For the photography I use a Canon 70D with lenses that gives me focal lengths from 50 to 150mm. Tripod and remote. I actually want to use the Fujifilm but I have no long lens available here. The colour of the Fujifilm is what I like so much and makes the food looks yummy 🙂

Noodles.

There are many types of noodles. I use ‘Sen Mie’ meaning thin rice noodles. There is ,Sen Lek’, small rice noodles, ‘Sen Yai’, large rice noodles, ‘Sen Bami’, yellow Chinese egg noodles, and many more. It’s all about your personal taste. Because I eat with chopsticks and because I like it, I use ‘Sen Mie’, the small thin rice noodles.

Preparation is everything. 

Start chopping up the ingredients. Roughly chop the cilantro, fine chop the spring onions, rough chop on the veggies (Pak Choy, Kala and/or Water Spinach). Bean sprouts are a mandatory item, but we gonna do that later.

Once the preparation is done it’s all too simple. Boil the broth and add the meat balls. turn down the heat to medium/low. Blanche the veggies and soak the noodles until done. When the noodles are done, drain and add IMMEDIATELY the garlic oil. Toss in a nice bowl and add the blanched veggies, meat balls, etc. Add the fried garlic. Blanche the bean sprouts shortly and add to the bowl. Fill the bowl with broth until the noodles are just under. Decorate with fresh chopped cilantro and spring onions. Season with the 4 jars, soy sauce and fish sauce up to your own taste.

Now you got your basic bowl of noodle soup. Enjoy. You can add plenty to your soup like fish cakes, dumplings, fish balls, etc. You also can have a chicken noodle soup.  Add a boiled or grilled drumstick to it instead of meat/fish balls. One of the most popular soups is beef noodle soup. Braised beef, in homemade beef broth. All over Thailand this soup is different but taste very good. The difference is how the beef and broth is made.

As said, this my second post about my cooking and food. I still need to work out the lighting, decoration and setting (I have serious lack of good plates to present, so lets go shopping), but got plenty of ideas. Everything is done in my small kitchen. Don’t take everything serious. Cooking and making photos are next to my girlfriend the best things in life I love.