Green Tea, Chicken and Noodle Soup

Sarah from Simply Cooked was our November Daring Cooks’ hostess and she challenged us to create something truly unique in both taste and technique! We learned how to cook using tea with recipes from Tea Cookbook by Tonia George and The New Tea Book by Sara Perry.

I am not a huge fan of tea but I thought I'd give this a go and actually I was surprised with the result. Of course the soup base included miso, so the tea taste wasn't overpowering, it was just a little after taste with each sip of the soup. I used chicken instead of tofu as I don't like tofu, so I just cooked the chicken before I added it to the soup. I actually fried it cut up into little pieces but this added a bit of an oily taste to the soup so it might have been better to cook it in the water like you do with Pho.



Green Tea, Chicken and Noodle Soup

4 green tea teabags, or 1½ tablespoons (22½ ml) (3 gm) green tea leaves
1¼ inches (3 cm) fresh ginger, peeled and thinly sliced
5 oz (140 gm) thick or thin egg noodles
6 chicken thighs, pre-cooked
5 oz (140 gm) bok choy or spring greens, shredded
1-2 tablespoons (15-30 ml) light soy sauce
2 tablespoons (30 ml) (1 oz) (30 gm) red or white miso paste
½ teaspoon (2½ ml) sesame oil
6 scallions (also called spring onion or green onion), trimmed and sliced
sprinkling of sesame seeds

Place 6 cup (1½ litre) water in a pan with the green tea bags or leaves and the ginger slices. Heat until the water is just below boiling and bubbles start to form.

Remove the pan from the heat and let it steep for four minutes.

Remove the tea bags or strain the liquid to remove the tea leaves. Return the ginger slices to the liquid and reserve.

Meanwhile, cook the noodles according to package instructions in a separate pan.



Return the tea liquid to the heat and add the pre-cooked chicken, bok choy or greens, and the soy sauce. Heat gently for five minutes, until hot all through.



Scoop out some liquid to a small bowl and mix in the miso paste. Then return the liquid to the pan.

Add the sesame oil and scallions. Spoon into bowls and garnish with the sesame seeds.