Blogging Marathon #68 Week 1 Day 1
Theme: Soups and Stews
Dish: Vegetable Manchow Soup
It is September and it is the beginning of another Mega Marathon. For those who are new to my blog, let me elaborate. We as a group of bloggers have events each month where we post recipes on different particular theme each week. Twice a year, we have a Mega Marathon, posting a recipe each day except Sunday. That makes it 26 recipes in 30 days 🙂 Read more about the Marathon here.
This month we were to select an ingredient or a category for 26 days or select a new ingredient or category each week. I opted for a category each week, and this is the first post of the series. Over the next three days I shall be posting different recipes of soups. For the first day, I begin with Vegetable Manchow Soup.
Indo-Chinese is our favorite cuisine at home and so this recipe is apt to start off the Marathon. This recipe is from my mom's cooking classes notes. She went there before I was born and still has her file with all the recipes in there! Back home she used to make this for me and I would love all the crispy noodles in there! In my opinion, the major difference between hot and sour soup and manchow soup is the fried noodles! Any restaurant that does not serve the fried noodles with Manchow is out of my list.
So now when I am planning an Indo-Chinese dinner for us, I make hot and sour soup to cut the calories from the fried noodles. A few days back i was craving for the crispy noodles and made a big batch of it! While a lot of it went into the soup and in munching with dinner, I used the leftover to make a serving of Chinese Bhel. Coming back to the recipe, I have used the vegetables I had handy. If you do not have one or two things, just skip them. Also, if you want you can add green peas, broccoli, cauliflower and Napa Cabbage to the soup. As this recipe is a fusion, there is no set recipe or ingredients. Even the restaurants have their own style of making it. Only a couple of pointers; LOTS of garlic and ginger, Dark Soy Sauce to get the dark color and cooking the vegetables on high flame. Follow these and I promise you, it will be a bowl of goodness!
Ingredients
Carrot 1 medium, diced
French Beans 5-6, chopped
Cabbage 1 cup shredded
Onion ½ medium, diced
Green pepper ½ medium, diced
Garlic 5-6 pods, minced
Ginger 2 inch piece, grated
Green Chilli 1, minced
Spring Onion 2-3 stalks, chopped
Cilantro ¼ cup
Salt, Pepper
Dark Soy Sauce 1 tsp
Vinegar 1 tsp
Cornstarch 2 tbsp
Oil 1 tsp, Chilli Oil ¼ tsp
Green Chilli Sauce 1 tsp
Fried Noodles (recipe Follows)
Method
To make the Fried Noodles
Boil 1 cup of any brand of Hakka Noodles according to the instruction. Make sure not to overboil and make it mushy. Cool the noodles completely. In a plate add 1 tablespoon cornstarch and roll the noodles in it. Heat oil and deep fry the noodles. Remove using a slotted spoon on a kitchen towel and once cool store them in an airtight container.
To make the Soup
Heat the oils in a thick bottom pan. Add garlic and ginger, saute and let the raw flavor go away. Once it is gone, add green chilli, onions and peppers. Saute for a couple of minutes on high flame. Do not cook them completely. Then add carrots and french beans and cook for 5-6 minutes. Finally, add cabbage and let it cook for a minute. Add two cups of water and bring the soup to a boil.
In a small bowl mix cornstarch with a teaspoon of salt, a pinch of black pepper powder and the three sauces. Add ½ cup water and mix well. Add this mixture to the soup, reduce flame to medium and cook the soup for 3-4 minutes. Adjust salt and spice.
Turn down the heat and add most of the spring onion and cilantro. When ready to enjoy, serve the soup in a bowl, top with fried noodles and some spring onion greens. We love this soup with Spicy Chilli Garlic Noodles, Black Pepper Tofu and Mushroom Fried Rice.
Check out the Blogging Marathon page to see what the other Blogging Marathoners doing for BM# 68
Suja Ram says
Delicious soup. Beautiful pics too.
Gayathri Kumar says
As always drool worthy snaps, Smruthi. The soup with the crispy fried noodles sounds so yum..
cookingwithsapana says
Veg manchow is our family favorite.Looks so tempting and as usual lovely clicks.
Srivalli says
What a lovely theme and the pictures too..though I am not so big on soups your pictures do make me want to grab!
Priya Srinivasan - I Camp in My Kitchen says
Manchow is our favorite soup. That bowl is very tempting and makes me really hungry 🙂
Sandhya Ramakrishnan says
Same pinch Smruthi! I am doing soups as well for week 1 and I am looking forward to the rest of your series. Love the Indo-Chinese flavors of the soup.
Harini R says
That is a sinful bowl of goodness!
veena says
That is a lovely theme for week 1 smurti. Whenever I visit your blog, I keep looking at the pics and forgetting to see the recipe. Today is no exception. Looking forward to see the visual treat for the next 25 days
MySpicyKitchen says
Manchow soup looks delicious and this soup will come very hand in few days when it gets cold in our neck of the woods.
Srividhya says
Loved you detailed write up. Perfect for this season. 🙂 Yummy soup
Priya Suresh says
Thats bowl of vegetable manchow soup makes me hungry, simply prefect for anytime of the day, i want that bowl rite now and just love your theme for the first week Smruti.
Nalini's Kitchen says
Such a lovely theme,looking forward to see your recipes.Manchow soup looks so comforting and delicious.
Kalyani says
A family favourite ! This soup
Is made so well ... THe fried noodles make it so delicious isn't it ?
Padmajha says
What a delicious soup! Your pics make them even more tempting!
www.annapurnaz.in says
I LOVE crispy noodles with the soup. It is seriously one of my favorite ways to have it! Pics are awesome!!
Archana says
We love Manchow soup rather husband loves it and I eat to giv ehim company. He will be thrilled when I use your recipe to make this soup. Thanks. Looking forward to the rest of your series.
Suma Gandlur says
Lovely theme and the soup looks so colorful and inviting.
vaishali sabnani says
Chinese soups are my favourite and this one looks so tempting , lovely clicks !
Unknown says
Lovely theme and lovely pictures...
Pavani says
What a delicious and inviting soup Smruthi. Looks amazing.
Unknown says
Hi! I loved this vegetable manchow soup, since it's full of vegetables and I like to eat only healthy food, this dish will be for sure my next one. Thanks for sharing.
Jenny@ Pressure Cookers HQ