If you are new here, you may not know A Cuppa and Conversation originally started out as a food/recipe blog called A Solitary Feast. For 8 years I adapted family sized recipes into small batch recipes with 3 servings or less. So, it wasn’t much of a stretch to find ways of incorporating my new passion for tea into my old passion for cooking and baking. I was amazed at the number of recipes I found that incorporate actual tea, brewed or tea leaves, into the recipe. I am going to share some of my small batch adaptions of the recipes I found here. If possible, I will link to the full-sized recipe as well.
We are going to start our tea cooking adventures with a soup. Yes, I know it’s the middle of summer and that it is hot, but I love soup and eat it all year around. Plus, this soup recipe is quick and easy. I will be making it often on those nights I am hungry but don’t want to spend a lot of time in the kitchen.T
What type of green tea should I use? The recipe called for 4 Bigelow green tea bags. I had those on hand so that is what I used. You could use any green tea bags as long as they are plain green tea and not flavored. Make sure whatever brand you choose is one you enjoy drinking. If it doesn’t taste good to you when you drink it, it won’t taste good when you cook with it.
Can I make this soup with loose leaf green tea? You certainly can. Just use one teaspoon loose leaf green tea for each tea bag. You can just toss them in the water and then strain them out before you add the carrots and the noodles. You could also use disposable tea filters if you have them. I tried this soup with some Jamine green tea and Gun Powder green tea, both tasted good to me.
What are Soba noodles, and can I use any other noodles? Soba noodles are a traditional Japanese noodle made from buckwheat flour instead of wheat flour. You can find them in the Asian or ethnic section of your grocery store. If you can’t find them you can use Udon noodles, Ramen noodles or even thin spaghetti. If you have leftover cold noodles or rice you could use that too.
Green Tea Noodle Soup
From Bigelow.com
4 cups water
4 teabags plain green tea
1 TBS minced garlic
1 tsp grated ginger
1 TBS rice wine vinegar
1 TBS soy sauce
2 shredded carrots
1/4 cup chopped green onions
2 TBS minced cilantro, Optional, for garnish
In a 1 1/2 quart sauce pan, bring the water, teabags, garlic, ginger, soy sauce and vinegar to a boil. Reduce heat to medium, let simmer for 10 minutes. Remove teabags.
Add carrots and noodles. Cook noodles until they are done to your liking, between 2-10 minutes, depending on what type of noodle you use.
Serve with a sprinkle of cilantro, green onions and a dash of hot sauce if desired.
A Cuppa And Conversation 