Everything, except meat!

For years I have always just eaten meat. And believe me, I very much enjoyed that, and really thought I needed the meat in my diet! Until I ran into my boyfriend and invited him to dinner at my house. Fortunately, the day before he was due, I thought to ask him if there was anything else I should take into account. And when he indicated that he would eat everything, except meat, I was able to turn my entire dinner plan into a vegetarian dish just in time.

As the relationship grew, and we spent more and more time together, I ate more and more vegetarian. And I noticed that I didn't miss the meat at all. The moment that I would eat completely vegetarian had come one step closer.

Invented a lot of things

I have been a vegetarian for over 8 years now. And in all those 8 years I have of course already tested a lot of dishes. And also invented a lot of things myself.

One of the things I sometimes missed since I started eating vegetarian was chicken soup. And Chicken Soup isn't like saying, "Wow, what a special dish." No, not at all. But chicken soup is something I have fond memories of, and which I always liked.

The memory I have of Chicken Soup is the following:

Years ago, a friend and a thought came up, we went to every eatery in the village where we lived to eat soup. And in the village where they lived there were about 10 places to eat. We did not have a driver's license. Every Monday evening around 6 pm we got on our bikes together and cycled to the eatery we had chosen to eat soup that week.

My girlfriend absolutely adored Mushroom Soup, and I ordered the Chicken Soup every week. And in those weeks I learned that there is a huge difference in the way chicken soup is prepared. After a few weeks, we were able to determine from the first bite we took whether the soup was freshly made, or whether we were dealing with canned soup. And believe me, the occasions that made us pay dearly for soup from a jar or can, they could count on a negative review from us. The occasions where the soup was freshly prepared could count on a very positive review, regardless of whether it was completely our taste.

Shark Fin Soup was not a success

After 10 weeks we had visited every eatery in our village, and we had to make a choice, did we continue cycling to the surrounding villages? Or would we do another round with a different kind of soup? It ended up being the last, this time we chose something different every time and didn't have one special soup we would order. So it happened that my friend ordered a Shark Fin Soup at the Chinese Restaurant… and I can still remember very well that I was laughing and watching her as she struggled to empty her plate. She thought it was TERRIBLE! It is therefore no coincidence that she has also started to eat vegetarian. LOL.

Either way, it's a fun memory that both she and I often think of. When we were talking about that not so long ago, I suddenly thought, “Gee, so it has been at least 8 years since I ate a chicken soup”. And immediately afterwards I said to her via whatsapp … “It's time I come up with something about that”.

Today was the day I came up with my recipe. I was going to make

VEGETARIAN THAI CHICKEN SOUP.

And not only that, but also one that fits within a small budget!

^{As usual, I forgot to take pictures of my cooking process… so forgive me for not being able to throw a whole photo collage here}

But of course I can share the recipe I followed. And that is as follows;

Required Ingredients;

• 1 pak choi
• 250 grams bean sprouts
• 1 leek
• 1 green paprika
• 1 red onion
• 1 cayenne pepper
• 4 eggs
• 500ml water
• 350 ml vegetable stock
• 250 g fine noodles
• 400 ml coconut milk
• 1 tbsp sunflower oil for frying
• 1 package of vegetarian chicken pieces
  
  

How do we make it;

• Put water on to boil the eggs.
• Cut the vegetables and vegetarian chicken into small strips.
• Heat a spoonful of olive oil in a soup pot and fry the vegetarian chicken pieces for 2 minutes.
• Then fry the vegetables for about 3 minutes.
• Once the water in the eggs is boiling, boil the eggs for about 6 minutes.
• Add the water, stock and coconut milk to the vegetables and vegetarian chicken pieces and bring to a gentle boil.
• Then cook the noodle nests in a separate pan according to the instructions on the package.
• Let the soup cook for about 5 minutes
• Drain the noodles and divide them among the bowls.
• Cut the egg in half and place it on top of the noodles.
• Pour the soup over it.

And then of course it's "Enjoy your meal"!

And believe me, it tasted excellent. Both my partner and I were very satisfied with it, and it will certainly be on the menu here more often.