Lately, the weather here in Southern California has been a bit gloomy. The kind of weather that makes you want to curl up under the blankets and never come out. Unfortunately, I have a family that likes to eat and staying in a warm bed isn’t an option for me…haha. Anyway, it’s also the kind of weather that screams for a nice hot bowl of Thick-n-Hearty Bean Thread Noodle Soup.

If you remember from a previous post, I’ve been trying to use up some of the odds and ends in my pantry. This time, I pulled out my Asian basket and found water chestnuts, dried shiitake mushrooms, and sliced bamboo shoots. These ingredients made me think of a soup that my dad used to make. It was something I haven’t eaten or made in a really long time and decided that this would be the soup of the day.

I don’t normally measure anything out when I make this soup, so it’s pretty forgiving and flexible. The broth really just consists of chicken broth, soy sauce, ginger, and salt/pepper. You can basically adjust the broth measurements to suit your own taste.

Thick-n-Hearty Bean Thread Noodle Soup

Gather Thick-n-Creamy Bean Thread Noodle Soup ingredients.

*ground pork, soy sauce, and ginger are missing from picture

Soak dried mushrooms and dried noodles in a large bowl of hot water. Let sit at least 30min.

Once mushrooms are soft, cut into approximately 3/8in. strips. Squeeze out water from the mushrooms. Set aside.

Drain water from the noodles. Set aside.

*You can also cut noodles to shorter lengths here. I usually take a handful of noodles and cut it in half.

I skipped taking some pictures here. I browned the pork in this pot and added salt/pepper to taste. Drained the fat and added the water, chicken bouillon cubes*, soy sauce, noodles, bamboo shoots, grated ginger, and mushrooms. Turn heat to high and bring to a boil -approximately 10 min. Lower heat to medium and cook for another 15 minutes.

*water & chicken bouillon cubes can be substituted with homemade chicken broth.

Add the corn and water chestnuts. Let boil another 15min.

Pour scrambled eggs into boiling soup and stir.

Finished Thick-n-Hearty Bean Thread Noodle Soup. Enjoy!

Thick-n-Hearty Bean Thread Noodle Soup

Hearty bean thread noodle soup with shiitake mushrooms, corn, pork, bamboo, and water chestnuts.

Ingredients

2 - 4oz. bags bean thread noodles
10 oz. dried shiitake mushrooms
1 lb. ground pork
13 cups water
6 cubes Knorr chicken bouillon (these are larger than the normal cubes)*
1/4 - 1/3 cup Aloha soy sauce (use low sodium if you prefer less salt)
2 - 15 oz. Can baby sweet corn (optional)
1 -8 oz. Can sliced water chesnuts
1 - 8 oz. can sliced bamboo shoots
2 - 3 T. grated frozen ginger (add more if you can't taste the ginger)
3 - 4 eggs
salt & pepper (to taste)

Instructions

Before you start cooking, soak the dried bean thread noodles and dried shitake mushrooms in a large bowl of very hot tap water for 30min. If your water isn’t hot enough, warm it up in the microwave. The water needs to be hot enough to soften the noodles and re-hydrate the mushrooms.
Once the mushrooms are soft, cut into approximately 3/8in. strips and squeeze any water out. Set aside. Drain the liquid from the noodles (You can cut the noodles into shorter lengths if you like. I usually grab a handful and cut it in half). Set aside.
Brown the ground pork in a large pot on medium heat. Drain any fat. Season with salt/pepper. Next, add the water, soy sauce, softened noodles, bamboo shoots, mushrooms, grated ginger, and chicken bouillon to the pot. Turn up the heat to high and bring to a boil. Should take approximately 10 min. Lower heat to medium and cook another 15 minutes. Add corn and water chestnuts. Cook an additional 15 min. on medium.
In a bowl, scramble the eggs. Pour the scrambled eggs into the hot boiling soup. Let the eggs sit for a few seconds to cook and then start to stir into the soup. This will create egg threads in the soup. Taste the soup and adjust the seasonings. Add salt/pepper to taste. You may want to add more soy sauce and ginger. Turn heat off and enjoy!