Lemongrass Noodle Soup with ginger and shiitake mushrooms

This Lemongrass Noodle Soup has got it all - fragrant lemongrass, ginger and meaty shiitake mushrooms.

A tasty and fragrant broth, chewy shiitake mushrooms, slippery slurpy noodles and crunchy fresh veg in all colours of the rainbow!

Ultra delicious and healthy Lemongrass Noodle Soup is suitable for all sorts of diets - gluten-free, vegan, Paleo, keto...the list goes on. I guarantee that you will LOVE this dish. You can add tofu to it or prawns would be excellent too. For a low starch or Paleo option, use zucchini noodles.

This Lemongrass noodle soup is on a par with a top restaurant dish, made right at home!

All about this noodle dish

• perfect for when you want a lot of flavour but not a lot of bite from hot spices
• nourishing and comforting all at once
• anti-inflammatory ingredients such as ginger and turmeric
• the perfect noodle to liquid ratio - lots of noodles and not drowning in liquid
• way better than takeout - no dodgy ingredients
• change up the noodles, the protein and veggies - just keep the flavour paste as is and play around with the rest
• suitable for most diets and preferences - eg.  gluten free, Paleo, dairy free, vegan, vegetarian. Just change up the protein, veggies and noodles to your preference

It's easy to make this recipe

Full details are below, here is a handy summary:

1. Start by making the paste in a blender or mini food processor
2. Prep your protein and vegetables
3. Briefly fry off the paste in a saute pan or stockpot
4. Add some of the soup ingredients - bring to a boil then reduce to a simmer
5. Cook the noodles in a separate saucepan
6. Gradually add other ingredients
7. Once the protein and pumpkin are both cooked, add the last ingredients and you are ready to serve!

Pro tips for making these Asian noodles

• Make the flavour paste the day before if you want to make the soup for a weeknight meal or make it earlier in the day for a weekend dinner
• If you are making this dish with the intention of eating some on another day, any ingredients that are quick to cook should only be added to cook when you are re-heating the soup to serve - this includes prawns, scallops, cabbage and snow peas and also the noodles should be prepared only when you are preparing to eat
• if you are using any seafood (such as firm white fish or prawns), add these towards the end of the process to avoid overcooking. Don't add them when ingredients such as tofu or chicken would be added
• If using tofu as your protein, shred it with your hands into bite-sized pieces rather than chop it - you will get more soup flavour into the tofu that way
• Makrut lime leaves can be frozen, so if you get a packet with more than you need, add them to a ziplock bag and freeze them
• You can use frozen lemongrass stalks to save money - you can pick these up from the Asian supermarket/grocer
• Frozen grated lemongrass is a recent find of mine which I am loving more than fresh or frozen stalks
• Noodles are best prepared al dente/slightly undercooked before adding to the hot soup, because they will keep cooking in the soup

The noodles I recommend

Because I eat a gluten free diet, these are the gluten free noodles I recommend using. If you don't eat a gluten free diet, use your favourite Asian noodles, eg. egg noodles or white rice noodles. Just make sure to slightly undercook the noodles before adding to the soup because they will keep cooking.

• For the Aussies, you can use Coles brand GF instant noodles, made with brown rice. These are located in the health food aisle. Other options include black rice noodles from Coles, also in the health food aisle. Zucchini noodles and thin white rice noodles also work well (not vermicelli but a Pad Thai noodle), as do shirataki/konjac noodles. More recently, I also like to use San Remo brown rice spaghetti - I boil it in water with added baking soda (2 tablespoons for 4 serves of noodles) to give it a bouncy noodle-like texture, rinse well before serving.
• For those in the US, Lotus brand noodles are great along with white rice noodles, shirataki/konjac noodles or zucchini noodles.
• For those in other countries, choose your favourite gluten free noodles suitable for Asian cooking, eg. brown rice noodles, white rice noodles, zucchini noodles or shirataki/konjac noodles

Equipment needed

No special equipment is needed to make this recipe - most kitchens will have these kitchen essentials:

• blender or mini food processor
• large saute pan or stockpot
• chopping board and knives
• measuring cups and spoons
• digital scales (mostly to measure the noodles, but you can guess)
• saucepan

This noodle soup is unforgettable, yet easy to make.

Lemongrass Noodle Soup with Ginger and Shiitake Mushrooms

Lemongrass Noodle Soup with Ginger and Shiitake Mushrooms - a tasty fragrant broth, chewy shiitake mushrooms, slippery slurpy noodles and colourful crunchy fresh veg!

If you enjoy this recipe, please leave a comment and star rating below - this helps both me and my readers!

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Course: Dinner

Cuisine: Asian

Prep Time: 30 minutes minutes

Cook Time: 15 minutes minutes

Servings: 4

Equipment

• blender or mini food processor
• large saute pan, large saucepan or stockpot (a capacity of 4L/quarts or more is ideal)
• chopping board and knives
• measuring cups and spoons
• Digital scales (mostly to measure the noodles, but you can guess)
• noodle bowls and cutlery

Ingredients

Flavour Paste

• 4 lemongrass stalks white part only
• 3 teaspoons finely grated ginger use a 3cm/1 inch piece or a little more
• 4 medium to large makrut lime leaves may be labelled as kaffir lime leaves
• ½ teaspoon turmeric powder
• 1 medium to large shallot* (eschalot) peeled and roughly chopped
• ⅔ cup coconut cream
• 3 teaspoons cooking salt/kosher salt
• ¼ teaspoon white pepper

Noodle soup ingredients

• 240 grams (8 oz.) dry noodles of choice (or use noodles from 2 zucchini/courgette - see notes for suggestions)
• 4 teaspoons neutral cooking oil
• 1 ½ litres/quarts chicken stock, mushroom stock or vegetable stock
• 2 teaspoons sugar (optional)
• 2 teaspoons fish sauce (Red Boat or Megachef are great options)
• 10 medium fresh or dried shiitake mushrooms (stems removed and mushrooms sliced - if using dried, slice after rehydrating. Can also use 1 packet of enoki mushrooms if preferred)
• 500 grams (1 lb.) protein of choice (eg. firm tofu, large raw prawns/shrimp, sliced raw chicken thighs, firm white fish pieces, sliced raw scallops)
• 200 grams (½ lb.) Kent pumpkin, Jap/kabocha or butternut squash (peeled, de-seeded and chopped in to bite sized pieces)
• 2 cups finely shredded red cabbage
• 2 tablespoons frozen edamame (optional)
• 16 snow peas (ends trimmed and cut in half)

Garnish

• coriander/cilantro leaves (optional, or Thai basil)
• 4 lime cheeks (from 2 limes) don't skip this!

Instructions

Make the flavour paste

• Slice off 1cm from the very bottom of the lemongrass stalk, peel off any dried-out layers, remove the green tops and then bash the woody end with a rolling pin to soften. Then slice into thin rounds or finely grate with a box grater or microplane.
• Place the coconut cream, sliced lemongrass and the rest of the paste ingredients into a blender or small food processor and blend for a few minutes. The lime leaves should now look like tiny green pieces. If need be, scrape down the sides of the jug and blend again.

Prepare protein and vegetables

• Prepare the vegetables and protein into large bite sized pieces - if using prawns, keep them whole.

  If using dried shiitake, rehydrate them first in a bowl with hot water before draining and slicing. You can keep the liquid for another recipe or use it as the "stock" in this recipe.

Make the soup and prepare the noodles

• To make the soup, heat the saute pan/saucepan on medium-low heat. Add the oil and then fry the paste in the oil for a minute or so until fragrant. Add the stock, mushrooms, pumpkin and protein (not seafood - if using, add this towards the end). Place the lid on the pan, bring to a boil and then reduce the heat to a gentle simmer with the lid still on - keep cooking while you prpeare the noodles.
• The noodles can be cooked now in a separate saucepan while preparing the soup. Reduce the cook time so that the noodles are slightly undercooked/al dente. Drain and set aside when done.

  If using zucchini noodles, they don't need to be cooked - just prepare them, then add to the soup bowl just before serving.

  While the noodles are cooking, boil a full kettle of water - this is going to be used to heat the noodle bowls just before adding the soup and noodles for serving. This will keep the noodles nice and hot during your meal!
• After simmering the soup, bring the temperature up to a gentle boil. Add edamame and seafood (if using). Cook for only another two minutes or until the protein is cooked. Prawns or scallops will be done quite quickly.
• During this final cooking step, pour the boiled water from the kettle into your empty noodle bowls and let it sit for a minute while you finish the soup.
• Turn off the heat. Taste and season the soup with extra salt if required.

Assemble the soup

• Carefully empty the noodle bowls of the boiled water.

  Add your prepared noodles to the bowls, along with shredded cabbage and snow peas. Ladle the soup - with protein and vegetables - over the top. Squeeze fresh lime over the top or serve the lime cheeks at the table.

Storage

• This soup is best made and served fresh because of the nature of the recipe.

  However, if you do have leftovers, store them in the fridge for up to 3 days. Keep any cooked noodles and vegetables separate to the liquid for storage. Reheat the soup in a saucepan on medium-low heat to prevent overcooking the proteins, and finish the preparation steps as above.

  If you preder to make single serves of this soup on demand, you can freeze portions of the flavour paste (¼ of the paste equals one serve), then divide the rest of the ingredients by 4. Prepare as normal.

Notes

The paste can easily be doubled to keep some for later - freeze in a ziplock bag and then defrost when you'd like to make the noodle.

*Shallots are sometimes referred to as French onions or eschalots. Aussies: don't confuse them for spring onions or green onions.

Noodle suggestions

• For the Aussies, you can use Coles brand GF instant noodles, made with brown rice. These are located in the health food aisle. Other options include black rice noodles from Coles, also in the health food aisle. Zucchini noodles and thin white rice noodles also work well (not vermicelli but a Pad Thai noodle), as do shirataki/konjac noodles.
• For those in the US, Lotus brand noodles are great along with white rice noodles, shirataki/konjac noodles or zucchini noodles.
• For those in other countries, choose your favourite gluten free noodles suitable for Asian cooking, eg. brown rice noodles, white rice noodles, zucchini noodles or shirataki/konjac noodles

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