when baking, follow directions.. when cooking, go by your own taste.. ~ Laiko Bahrs
i was once asked, “What’s the easiest thing you’ve ever cooked?” by an acquaintance..i didn’t have to even think for the answer..
i mean, what else can be easier than soup? you just CAN’T go wrong with it..
well, technically, you can, by messing up the seasonings or stuff like that, like i did once..i cooked chicken rice and the works for dinner with friends..and i messed the soup up by adding too much salt in it..the chicken stock was already salty enough, prior to cooking the soup and i somehow forgot and absent mindedly added even more sea salt into it..i shouldn’t have served it, but serve it i did..nonetheless, it was of course a disaster, and our guests were too polite to say anything about it..and i’ve lived to regret it to this day..
one doesn’t need to be a genius to know how to cook a pot of soup..a good stock base, flavor enhancers, main ingredient, and this or that garnish to complement everything..and there you have it, a pot of hearty and wholesome soup to soothe the soul..
the easiest soup recipe i’ve made so far is certainly vegetable based..for instance, cabbage or spinach, or watercress soup..a handful of anchovies for its sweet flavor, vegetable of choice, and a bit of sea salt to round everything up..and of course, plenty of clean, filtered water..to garnish, simply sprinkle fried shallots or even garlic oil for that something extra..
below is a recipe for a mildly spicy beef soup that’s quite common in malay eateries..normally, a bouquet garni of sort of dried whole spices tied in a muslin cloth bundle is used to make the soup..named sup bunjut, it’s sold in individual packs in most supermarkets and grocery stores..the spices are tied up in a bundle, so as to prevent the person enjoying the soup from biting unpleasantly into any stray bits of spice..you can buy the ready packed spices, or you can make the garni yourself..i didn’t have any muslin cloth in hand, and chucked the spices directly into the pot instead..
if you prefer the soup to be non-spicy, just omit the bird’s eye chili from the ingredients..