Wanted to make something special for our New Year’s Eve meal but at the same time, nothing too elaborate (since I wanted to spend time with Keith and Alex more than anything), I decided to make our usual celebratory dish – chicken mushroom soup and mee suah. Not only does it smell/taste like Chinese New Year and birthdays all wrapped up in one dish, but it is also the ultimate comfort food for me. ❤️
You can buy the noodles at any Asian grocery store. Since I can’t find traditional mee suah, I usually purchase the similar Japanese somen. My original Chicken Mushroom Soup recipe can be found here but I’ve also recently changed the recipe slightly in an attempt to reduce my meat intake and here it is:
1 (32-fl oz) chicken stock
6 cups water
1 tablespoon sesame oil
1 tablespoon extra light olive oil
2″-2½” chunk fresh ginger, sliced
½ cup cream sherry
26 to 30 whole shiitake mushrooms
11 to 12 chicken legs
Salt to taste
Place water in a large pot (8-qt), cover, and bring to a boil over medium heat. In the meantime, heat the oils in a small frying pan over medium heat. Stir-fry ginger until golden brown and fragrant. Turn off the heat and transfer the ginger and oils into the pot of water. Note: Water does not have to be boiling before you add the ingredients. Proceed to add the sherry, mushrooms, and chicken. Keep pot covered and let it come to a boil over medium heat. Then lower heat to low and simmer until chicken is cooked and tender. Add salt to taste.
Once the soup is done, then you can cook your noodles. Bring a medium pot (depending on how much noodle you are cooking) of water to a boil. Add noodles and cook until tender (the noodles cook very quickly in just a minute or two). Transfer noodles to your serving bowls, add the soup, a little drizzle of additional cream sherry (if desired), a piece of chicken, some mushroom, and a hard-boiled egg (if you want, make the eggs while the soup is cooking). Enjoy and slurp to your heart’s content.
