Sick Person's Soup

It's just over a week until Thanksgiving, and the food blogosphere is rife with Thanksgiving recipes. Call me contrary, but I'm writing about this spicy soup instead. You could serve this soup for Thanksgiving, but its gingery explosiveness would probably cause steam to come out of your Aunt Mildred's ears. She might start gagging, and gesticulating wildly just as Uncle Simon was passing the gravy, knocking it out of his hands and down onto the front of her flower print dress, and then she might scream in pain as hot gravy spread across her ample bosom, jump up and accuse you of trying to kill her and storm out of the house, get into her car and drive away, never to speak to you for twenty years until she's on her death bed and finally relents and calls you to her side to tell you she's decided to leave you her collection of cow figurines in her will. And we don't want that. Better stick to turkey and mashed potatoes. But after Thanksgiving, when you're sick of all those heavy carbs, and feeling run down from all the cooking and having to bite your tongue to ensure civility at the dinner table, you can make this soup and eat it all by yourself if you so desire.

The soup is based on a recipe for Sick Person's Soup from the excellent "Vegetable Soups from Deborah Madison's Kitchen." (Deborah Madison is the author of "Vegetarian Cooking for Everyone," my go-to tome for pretty much everything.) I wasn't sick when I made this, and hopefully now I'll stay that way. This soup packs a wallop, enough to keep those germs away at least through New Year's, I'd say. Never underestimate the power of 12 cloves of garlic and three tablespoons of grated ginger. And the cabbage and miso and lime juice work their magic as well.

The original recipe called for even more ginger. You can add more if you want, but three tablespoons was more than enough for me. I also added a little soy sauce, soft tofu, and Asian wheat noodles (they resembled fettucine) to make it more of a meal. You could sub in another noodle if you wish. Just use what you have. Rice noodles would work well, or soba. Or heck, just use fettucine. I really liked the heft of my thick fettucine-like noodles – their solidity really worked well as a counter-balance to the intense sour lime, fiery ginger broth.

Sick Person's Soup
Adapted from "Vegetable Soups from Deborah Madison's Kitchen"
5 cups Chinese cabbage, chopped
1 celery rib, sliced
1 small onion, thinly sliced
1 carrot, thinly sliced
12 garlic cloves, 6 sliced and 6 finely chopped
16 oz. soft tofu, cut in 1-inch cubes
3 tablespoons grated ginger
1 jalapeño pepper, diced
Juice of 1 lime
¾ cup white miso
Splash of soy sauce
Splash of roasted sesame oil
Salt to taste
Noodles, cooked according to package directions (flat Asian wheat noodles would work well)

Bring 8 cups of water to boil in a large pot. Add the cabbage, onion, carrot, and 6 sliced garlic cloves, lower the heat, and cover. Simmer for 15 minutes. Add the tofu and simmer for a couple of minutes more. Turn off the heat and add the finely chopped garlic, jalapeño, lime juice, and miso. (It's helpful to first dissolve the miso in a bit of the soup water before adding it to the pot.) Add a splash of soy sauce and splash of roasted sesame oil. Add salt to taste. Ladle soup into bowls and add a serving of noodles to each bowl. Add more soy sauce and garnish with sriracha if desired.