OH Soup For You

Roasting onions and garlic for Pho

J and I (but mostly me) were both sickies on the weekend and after a visit to our local Korean market, we decided to follow her advice and take her sour kimchi and combine it with green onions (she claims the white part of green onions are "medicinal") and water to kick the cold out of me.  Why not?  Worth a try, right?

I was determined to do this myself, but I have never ever ever cooked soup.  I've taken it out of a can.  I've even added milk to Campbell's Tomato Soup once, but that's the extent of it.  To ensure that we would end up with a good hearty, sick-person's meal at the end of our Saturday evening, Jon and I embarked on a dual soup challenge.

It begins!

J:  Vietnamese Pho, a classic favorite of ours that Jon usually cooks using a Pho cube.  This time, it's all from scratch.

Me:  Kimchi soup.  Most Korean soups are made with a soy base, so I was determined to get flavor without succumbing to the deliciousness that I missed in the soybean paste.


Kimchi Soup
In a large pot, I used about a cup of kimchi (including juices), 1 1/2 of vegetable broth, 2 cups of water (to start), two chopped green onions (white part included), a little more than a tablespoon of fish sauce (we use Squid Brand: this is the same as oyster sauce) and 2 small clumps of  enoki mushrooms (found at Super Store).  I let it simmer on medium/low for awhile and kept adding water over the span of about 45 minutes to an hour.
Verdict:  spicy and very good for the sinuses!


Vietnamese Pho

Details on the ingredients to come soon from J...