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Well, it’s been a busy 10 days or so. Finally got 3 loaves of sourdough baked yesterday. Not before what looked like disaster, of course. The picture is of 2 loaves just put in bread pans to rise. Pretty, eh?
I’m still learning about sourdough, and the proper proportions of water/flour/starter, the “feel” of the dough, etc. All I knew was I thought the dough was beautiful, full of windowpanes and loo-o-ong gluten strands. I was pleased when I left it to run errands.
The camera was full, so I didn’t get a picture of the result. Just imagine those pans with drapes of liquid bread dough hanging down the sides to the rack beneath them. And that was in a COLD oven, no light, and it’s electric, so no pilot. ambient temperature was about 50F.
I started gathering the drapes up, and they pulled away from the pans and the rack quite neatly! I was able to scrape everything back into the pans without incident, then back into the bowl, where I added another 3 cups of flour! By the time I got done, I divided it into 3 pans this time, filling each roughly a quarter full. I figured I’d have smaller loaves, but safer.
Ended up with 3 BIG loaves, a good 50% bigger than the pans. Great crust, and a very tight, soft, faintly sour crumb. Makes lovely toast!
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Okay, back to the ramen! Take one package of Oriental flavor ramen. (Or your choice, but that one’s animal-free.) Slice a 1″ square of fresh ginger into this slices. (IF YOU AREN’T EATING ALONE, COUNT THE SLICES!) Crush 3 cloves of fresh garlic. Slice 2 healthy green onions, and roughly chop a handful of cilantro.
Put the flavor packet (or half of it) into a small saucepan, I use a 2 quart for 4 eggs. Yes, there are eggs to come, but you can also dice extra-firm tofu and substitute. Add the ginger, garlic, 2 Tbsp of sugar, 2 Tbsp of lime juice, 2 Tbsp of white vinegar, 1 tsp of Sriracha hot sauce, 2 cups of water, and 1 cup of coconut milk. Bring this to a boil, then simmer for 3 minutes. (The ideal here would be to use galangal instead of ginger, kaffir lime leaves, and bruised sliced lemongrass. Tom means coconut, kha is galangal, kai is chicken, phak is vegetables, and I believe Dohu is tofu.)
Break the noodles up, if you like, to make it easier to serve and eat and add the noodles to the mixture. Cook for 3 more minutes. A little before the noodles are done, start fishing out the ginger and garlic, if you want to. I don’t bother, but I’m usually cooking just for myself. (Yes, that’s why you counted them!)
Add the green onions and cilantro, then quickly add 4 whole raw eggs. You can crack them right into the pan, or you can have them ready in a bowl, whatever works for you. The object is to keep them whole so they’ll poach in the soup. Cook for 3 more minutes.
Add 1 tsp of sesame oil, then serve however you like. This feeds 4, if you add egg rolls or something, 2 for a meal if they’re not starving. I generally cook it for 2 and eat it myself, and it lasts me most of the day.
The aim here is to very roughly duplicate a classic Thai soup, Tom Kha whatever, usually Kai. Kai means chicken. You can make Thom Kha Phak, or whatever. Add whatever ingredients you want. Straw mushrooms are traditional, but I didn’t have any in the cupboard. I’ve made this with fresh mushrooms, fresh pea pods or sugar snaps, a little shredded cabbage, bean sprouts. It’s infinitely flexible. The main thing is to replicate that classic Thai flavor of hot/sweet/sour/salty and make sure it has the lime/lemon edge.
If you’ve had the classic soup, you’ll know what you’re aiming for. If you haven’t, find yourself a Thai restaurant and have some! Tom Kha, or Coconut Chicken (or other protein) soup. It’s killer. If I don’t have the noodles from the ramen, I serve it with a cup or so of steamed rice in it. In researching it, it seems that’s the way it’s served in Thailand, not as a soup course, but as a filling warming meal with the rice.
And ginger, onions, garlic and mushrooms are all antiflammatories! So, you’re also doing your cold, wintry, arthritic joints a favor! I generally eat mine in stages, saving the egg for last, but I have OCD, too.
