Simple Asian Veggie Spicy Noodle Soup - Vegan Style

In my previous post, I mentioned that things were looking good for me with this vegan diet. I want to give you a quick update. I had my cholesterol checked last Thursday and it dropped from 260 to 171 mg/dL from when I started my vegan diet 7 weeks ago. My weight also dropped 20 lbs. and I am now 2 waist sizes down. Today, I had to find my drill so I can drill a hole on my belt because it was too big. 

Don't get me wrong, I'm not complaining :)  This is a great problem to have. The annoying thing is that I've been trying to introduce fish back into my diet a couple of days this past week. It has not been successful! I would get stomach cramps almost immediately after eating the fish either cooked or raw in sushi. I might be stuck being a vegan for awhile. I guess this may not be a bad thing :)

Here is a simple recipe that I made a few times for dinner that I really enjoy. It's a combination Chinese and Vietnamese style spicy vegan veggie noodle soup.

• 2 cups of vegetables chopped (bok choy, gai choy, napa cabbage, or even spinach)
• 2-3 oz. wheat noodles
• 2-3 ginger slices
• A sprig of basil (I really like Thai basil if you can find it)
• A handful of bean sprouts
• 1/2 cup fresh mushrooms (shitake or cremini)
• 1 pint of vegetable stock
• 1 tsp. green curry paste (optional)

As you can tell measurement is not an exact science for this soup. Normally most of the noodles you'll see in Chinese restaurants are egg noodle. I'm still avoiding anything that has eggs in it so there are a couple of great choices like rice noodles or wheat noodles from Shanghai. I choose wheat noodles because it was sitting in my fridge and I didn't have anything else :)

Since going vegan I noticed that I prefer spicy flavoring in many of my dishes. I like adding a teaspoon of green curry paste to give it a kick! I also found many alternatives to stock and even oyster sauce! I really love oyster sauce during my pre-vegan days and I found a great alternative using mushroom oyster sauce. It's not the same but not bad at all.

Here is the hardest part. Place everything in a pot except the bean sprouts, basil, and noodles. Heat up the broth under the veggies are tender for about 2-3 minutes. Add the bean sprouts, basil, and noodles and cook for another 1-2 minutes and then serve.  If you like more kick to it add your favorite chili sauce!  Enjoy :)