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Sep 16, 2011

Samurai Mama Brooklyn NY

OMG! It was SO GOOD!


Samurai Mama
205 Grand Street, 
Brooklyn NY 11211 
(b/n Bedford and Driggs; map)

Cocoron Soba



Cocoron is a new-ish soba joint in the Lower East Side

The owner of the shop, Kida Yoshihito—a 10-year veteran of the Tokyo soba scene—likes to impress the health benefits of soba and broth on his customers. "A soba a day, and 'health' make way," proclaims the menu, which is illustrated with manga-style characters made of soba ingredients. 
 

Cocoron
61 Delancey Street, New York, NY 10002 (between Eldridge and Allen; map);  

Sep 4, 2011

Chicken Meatball Noodle Soup

I looked around for a recipe of chicken noodle soup and came across this recipe.
AND LOVE IT!

For two:
1 whole chicken
2 large knobs of ginger, sliced length ways
6 spring onions, 4 top and tailed and 2 top and tailed and finely sliced
1 clove of garlic
A handful of fresh mint
A shot of light soy sauce
10 star anise
A tablespoon of black peppercorns
3 carrots, peeled and roughly chopped
2 onions, peeled and quartered
2 egg whites and 50mls water together in a bowl with a little salt
3 celery stalks, roughly chopped
A couple of drizzles of toasted sesame oil
Skinny rice noodles, made up as per the pack instructions and cooled ready for use
Sea salt flakes
A clean tea towel

Method:

- Start by removing the breasts of the chicken from the carcass - you do this by slicing down the top bone either side and cutting the breasts away. Discard the skin and set the breasts aside
- Now remove the chicken legs and place the carcass and legs into a deep saucepan with the celery, onion, carrot, half the ginger, star anise and black peppercorns
- Cover with enough cold water to cover the lot and put it on the hob on a medium heat. Simmer uncovered for 3 hours then turn the heat off and leave it to cool a little
- Whilst its simmering you can make the meatballs (I made 20 smallish balls from the mixture). Into a food processor combine the other half of the ginger, garlic, 4 whole spring onions, sesame oil and a scrunch of salt and blitz until they form a paste, add the chicken breasts and blitz again until its all finely minced and the ingredients are all combined. Then using your hands simply make up the small meatballs and then place on a plate into the fridge to firm up
- Remove the chicken legs and pick off any meat from the carcass and set them aside - you don't need this chicken meat for the recipe but it tastes delicious and you can use it in something else another day
- Strain the liquor through a fine mesh sieve and discard all the vegetables and bits
- Add the soy sauce to the pot and b ring the strained liquor to the boil, once boiling take it off the heat and stir in the egg whites, stir through and leave for a minute, then strain again through a fine mesh sieve - the egg helps collect loads of the impurities
- To make the liquor super clear and clarified, you can now either use a special muslin sieve, or you can fashion one out of a clean tea towel and an extra pair of hands. Take a clean saucepan and hold the tea towel to the top of it, forming a well in which to pour the liquid into, then do this gradually, whilst holding onto the tea towel to keep it suspended. Pour all the liquid through it and the towel will catch all the nasties and leave you with a saucepan of clear and clarified stock
- Pop the liquid onto simmer gently and add enough cold water to the pot to give you enough liquor for two of you to eat (depends on how much it reduced before really so this isnt exact)
- Now whilst the pan is on a medium heat, pop your chicken meatballs into the pan. Once they're done you'll find they float to the top - this takes around 6-7 minutes. As the meatballs start to float more impurities will come to the surface - you simply need to skim these off with a ladle
- Place the rice noodles into the pan to heat through along with the spring onion and shredded meat
- Ladle into bowls, eat, and feel good