Asian Soba Noodle Soup

This Asian Noodle Soup is meant to take care of you on so many levels. There are times when all we need is a heartwarming, comforting meal that we can have ready without much fuss, we don't want to spend hours in the kitchen preparing, cooking and cleaning afterwards. All we want is to be nourished and indulged. 

This soup will do it all, you need a few fresh ingredients that you can find at your local market and most you might already have in your fridge or pantry. It will take us 20 minutes to put it all together and everything gets cooked in the same pot, so minimal cleaning is required afterwards. 

I love to make Asian inspired soups, they are usually made with tons of vegetables rich in anti-oxidants, fiber, vitamins and minerals. You can toss pretty much anything you have available or whatever is in season, you can't really go wrong on this one.

Here are some of the vegetables I used for this recipe and some of its benefits:

Baby bok choy: One of the most nutrient dense plants in the world. It will help you heal faster, boost circulation, prevent chronic disease, and it also boosts the immune system.

Carrot: Improve vision, prevents heart disease, and cancer. Reduces high blood pressure and the risk of stroke.

Shiitake mushrooms: Improves digestion, reduces stress, helps boost the immune system, lowers blood pressure and cholesterol.

Soybean sprouts: great for weight loss and skin care, reduces anxiety and stress, improves digestion and regulates bone density.

Sweet potato: Great for improving digestion, reduces inflammation, relives asthma and arthritis pain, controls diabetes and boosts immunity. 

We often see protein and carbs included in Asian soups as well, making it a complete and absolutely filling meal. For instance, this recipe is made with tofu, it goes slightly fried, and adding it to the proteins we are getting from the veggies, we're getting a total of 21g of protein per serving. 

For the carbs, we are adding a handful of noodles, this is probably what makes me love this soup so much. It makes this recipe so much more comforting, you get a complete meal, and my son will eat it without a problem, he loves noodles and he'll eat anything and everything that includes noodles . 

Soba noodles are a great option, they are made with buckwheat flour, so we're still in the gluten free terrain with this recipe, and buckwheat is a much healthier alternative than regular wheat or rice noodles. The downside of using this kind of noodles is that they become soft quite fast, so you want to eat this soup straight away after you've served it so you don't end up with a soggy mess. 

Whenever I make this recipe I usually make a pretty big batch, there's always someone wanting more! If you make a big batch or if you have any leftovers make sure you store the noodles separate so they are nice and firm when you are ready to have some more.