Peanut Butter Noodle Soup: The 10-Minute Dinner That Wows

Prep

1. Prep your protein:

   • For refrigerated or frozen meats: for previously cooked and not mass-produced (i.e., made at home or a restaurant), just thaw before using and cut or dice into appropriately sized pieces; for packaged foods that require cooking (i.e., frozen meatballs, frozen chicken pieces), heat portion up for the minimum amount of time listed on package directions.
   • For meatballs: we have options. If you want to piece together your own: add to a bowl eight ounces of meat–I like a mix of pork and beef, but either on its own is fine–with an egg, ¼ cup of breadcrumbs, 1 tsp of fish sauce (or worcestershire sauce), and a big splash of milk; season the mixture with two pinches of salt, and as much black pepper, basil, and ginger as you prefer. Mix until evenly combined; chill for 15-30 minutes if you can. When ready to cook, heat your oven to 425; while it warms up, grab a small clump of the meat mixture and roll into a ball. For small meatballs, heat for 7-9 minutes; for bigger meatballs, heat for 10-12 minutes. (Note: if balls are a bit medium rare at the center after cooking, don’t worry: they’ll finish cooking in the soup base.)
   • For tofu: if using the typical white-block-in-water kind, drain the tofu, then expel any additional liquid by pressing down on the top of the block with something flat and heavy (i.e., pans, large bowls or containers); do the same for the other size. To cut even cubes, cut one horizontal slice through the middle of the block (the ‘height’ cut); cut five or six slices vertically on the long side (the ‘length’ cut); rotate block to the short side and cut five or six slices vertically (the ‘width’ cut). Voila. Click here for a foolproof crispy tofu method.
   • For eggs: for a mostly firm and just slightly jammy middle, bake at 250 for 14 minutes; remove from heat and let stand on your counter until cool enough to peel.
2. Dice the green portion of the onion horizontally to produce thin rings.

Cook and Assemble

1. Heat a large pot or dutch oven on Medium; once hot, add a small amount of neutral oil or sesame oil, then add in onion pieces, five spice and ginger powders and a spoonful of minced garlic. Cook for 30 seconds, then add in the peanut butter–we do this with a large spoon rather than measuring actual tablespoons–and stir.
2. Add broth, oyster or hoisin sauce and bring to a simmer; cook for 2-3 minutes, stirring a few times.
3. Add in coconut milk and noodles, turning up heat briefly to return liquid to a slow and soft boil; cook for another two minutes.
4. Turn off heat. Squeeze juice of the lime into the pot and stir. Add spinach leaves and your protein (if using) and let sit long enough for spinach to wilt and your protein pieces to warm up.
5. We recommend portioning out your child’s serving several minutes before he/she consumes it: this allows the soup to cool down enough where your child can eat it as soon as (s)he gets to the table.

Serve

1. Customizing is half the fun of this dish. We like to fill several small bowls with compatible toppings–cilantro leaves, ground peanuts, crunchy onion strings, more sauces–and display them in front of our child to let him choose what he wants to mix in. (If the pieces are large enough and/or you prepared multiple options, you can also separate out the proteins and make them an add-in, too.)

Adapt

1. Adjusting the amount of broth is the easiest way to change the texture: more broth will make the dish soupier, less broth will make it saucier. Feel free to swap out the noodles for rice; our rice recipe is perfect for this one.
   For the grownup bowls, add a shot of Srircha, gojuchang, or chili crisp to turn up the spice and depth of the curry base.