Mark Bittman's Egg Noodles with Soy Broth

I may have been raised by a Roman in an extended family of Italo-Saxon gourmands, but I will have you know that I periodically, in high school, did indulge in an after school snack comprised of two slices of German Schwarzbrot sandwiching an oozy crimson layer of ketchup. Yes! It's true. I used to eat ketchup sandwiches. But, get this, that's not even the worst of it! Just to mix things up a bit - adventures of a latch-key kid, oh my - I sometimes boiled up a handful of pasta and sauced it with, you guessed it, that sauce of all sauces, ketchup.

Will horrors never cease? You probably think I should have my food professional license revoked.

But you need to know this to understand why, when I read this Minimalist column two weeks ago, my ears pricked up and my eyes widened. Who cares about authenticity? Noodles in a soy broth made with ketchup sounded like my kind of dinner - a throwback to my days on Bambergerstraße after school, gussied up just a wee bit with rice vinegar and toasted sesame oil.

There's enough sodium in this dish to make a cardiologist blanch. And Mark Bittman is right: these noodles don't win any awards for authenticity, so don't get all worked up by the fact that no self-respecting Asian country would ever feature anything like this on its national menu. This is something else entirely, an alternative to packaged ramen, perhaps, or a stop-gap kind of meal, like pasta aglio e olio when you're just not in the mood for Italian food. It's hot and comforting and spicy and, yes, quite nourishing. Imagine, it even tastes good. It's going in my permanent repertoire.

All you need to do is boil some egg noodles (I used fresh angel hair pasta from the refrigerated section of the grocery store) and simultaneously make a broth out of water, soy sauce, ketchup, rice vinegar, chile-garlic paste and toasted sesame oil. Mark says that you can add sliced scallions for garnish at the end, or throw in things like bean sprouts or sliced snow peas while the broth simmers. That would make this a more balanced meal, for sure. Also, the kind of noodles you use are variable. Don't feel like egg noodles? Try rice noodles, or soba. I'll bet soba would be delicious. The point is, this is easy, feel-good cooking, and it was comfort food for me. Dinner will be on the table in less than 15 minutes, requiring barely anything from the grocery store since most of us have these things in our pantries nowadays.

Of course, a more authentic Asian broth is not exactly difficult to make. But this recipe made me happy because it reminded me of old times and my first forays into making food for myself, and last night that was enough for me.

Egg Noodles with Soy Broth
Serves 4

Salt
1/3 cup soy sauce, more to taste
1/3 cup ketchup
1 tablespoon rice wine vinegar, more to taste
A few drops dark sesame oil
A squirt of sriracha or other Asian chile-garlic sauce
1 pound egg noodles, preferably fresh (I used 9 ounces of fresh angel hair pasta)

1. Bring a large pot of water to a boil and salt it. In a smaller pot, bring 6 cups of water to a boil; once boiling, reduce heat so water bubbles gently.

2. To the smaller pot add soy sauce, ketchup, vinegar, sesame oil if using and sriracha or chili, along with a pinch of salt. Stir and let simmer.

3. Add egg noodles to large pot; fresh noodles will be ready in just a couple of minutes; dried will take longer. When tender but not mushy, drain. Taste broth and add more soy, salt, vinegar or heat as you like. Divide noodles into bowls and pour hot broth over all.

Comments

[maggie (p&c)]

Where would be without the culinary experimentation of the latchkey kids...Probably plenty of people realized they liked tinkering with food in those afternoons alone...

This looks comforting, and nice for a windy day.

[maggie (p&c)]

whoops, entered link wrong before. sorry! come visit us at pithy and cleaver, we're making latch-key kid food, too!

[Adrienne]

I'm glad to see you gave this one a shot - I must admit I glanced at it and passed right by. Perhaps I'll give it a try.

BTW, made the chana punjabi last week and you're right, it's spectacular.

[Brittney Sinquefield]

Have to say I am new to the blog scene but I have really enjoyed all of your posts. Your writitng style is homey and I feel like I am peeking in on a friend. You share so much of yourself! I love it. Please come and visit me over at www.bfelicitas.blogspot.com.
Thanks again for all your wonderful recipes.

[Ronni]

I noticed this a few weeks ago and made it, too, and we loved it! It's not authentic, but who cares: it's quick, easy and very tasty. Also it makes a ton of broth so I saved half of it and used it throughout the week with frozen wontons from Trader Joe's to make a 5 minute wonton soup. Delicious. There are definitely worse things one could eat.

[stephen]

one of my favorites! I lived in Hawaii when I was a young surfer and if I wasn't eating rice then cold noodles for breakfast did the trick. Love em hot, cold, spicy, juicy-buckwheat, rice or flour.

[jenny]

when this recipe first came out in the nytimes I made it with soba (what I had on hand) and added some spinach sauteed with garlic and a hard-boiled egg. I was instantly hooked; the broth is weird and wonderful. definitely going in my permanent repertoire, too.

[meleyna]

No need to hide your ketchup shame. But being actually Asian, I am embarrassed at how much I like this un-authentic recipe.

[Rose-Anne]

Hey, I've been fantasizing about making some sort of weird, groovy sauce to put on noodles! Great minds think alike ;-)

[Chilli]

I wasn't a latchkey kid. But to my mother's despair I was in love with Maggi noodles (Indian equivalent of Ramen when I was growing up) as a post-school snack. These were religiously consumed, of course, covered in ridiculous amounts of ketchup. This recipe appeals to the kid in me like you would not believe!! I missed it on Bitman's column but am so glad you posted it!
I recently discovered english brown sauce which I lov-v-v-ed. Am going to try this recipe using that instead of ketchup...

[Erik]

my pièce de résistance: gummy worm soup with Hershey's Syrup substituting for chicken stock

[Tea]

My brother and I--in our latchkey days--came up with something called Bachelor Beans: a can of refried beans, a can of corn, grated cheese, all warmed up with cubes of tomato thrown in and eaten with chips. I still make it for camping trips.

I wonder if you could add greens and a poached egg to this? My lazy comfort suppers are usually soba done that way (here and here) but I like this Chinese-style version.

And I love the image of you making little kitchen messes on your own. So sweet!

[Heather]

Sounds good and simple! I might have to whip this up after a long week of culinary school :)- I will be in need of something simple!

[Amy C]

I love this recipe...I tried it the day I saw it in the NYtimes. I subbed half of the water for a veggie broth I had sitting around. It tasted vaguely like beef ramen noodles, in a good way - just a homey, tasty noodle broth.

[Mama JJ]

Back when I was not-a-latch-key-kid of ten or so, I would just slather the pasty white hotdog buns (after we ran out of the hotdogs) with ketchup and mustard and call it delicious. Shudder!

I want to try this recipe. I like the idea of adding some green veggies to bulk it up---I bet chard would be lovely.

[Ellen]

On the ketchup front...in Japan, spaghetti is made like yakisoba--stir fried, only with ketchup as the sauce. (First you cook onions, maybe a little meat or veggies. Then you add your cooked spaghetti. Then you squirt in ketchup.) This is why Japanese spaghetti (at people's homes anyway) is often so sweet...

[KT]

my occasional noodle craving just kicked in. must... eat... noodles...

[Angela]

I was thinking about this on the rainy ride home today and thought it might be just the thing for dinner ... you've convinced me. My son will not believe it when he sees me willingly add ketchup to a dish. Thanks.

[Tiffany]

I made this the other day too! Love the simplicity and so much better than instant noodles. I used a spinach fettuccine which worked just fine.

[unconfidentialcook.com]

I saw this and wondered about the ketchup...now I'll give it a try. Thanks!

[EB]

As a latchkey kid I was all about funky noodle soups. I called them 'fridge soup'... they always had a soy sauce base but never ketchup. I bet this would take me back to sitting on the couch watching Jem and slurping noodles.

[nicolette]

oh my gosh, the irony! JUST last night i was discussing pasta with ketchup in my swedish class. its like, a national dish there! the husband used to be too embarrassed to make it in front of me, but lately, he has no shame. anyhow, in my restaurant exercises last night, lots of the students put this dish in their written dialogues. everyone giggled, as we are all married to, or dating swedes.

[Liz]

Mark posted a follow-up suggesting putting the sauce on quinoa and having a savory breakfast. I can attest that this is also delicious!!

[Laura]

I make for dinner at least once a week...I love it! I don't tend to use ketchup too often though. Should give it a try though. I used to eat an obscene amount of the stuff in college. Even as a topping for a Graham cracker once.

[Marti]

Ha!
This same article gave me the courage to post a non-authentic standard of my own:
http://blankpalate.blogspot.com/2009/04/mutt-of-meal.html

[Sara]

This sounds like a simple, comforting meal, authentic or not.

[Mouse from A Mouse Bouche]

YUM. I just tasted pasta with ketchup for the first time and also thought if I admitted that no one would ever listen to me rhapsodize about cooking ever again. (It was kind of delicious). I wonder if scrambling a little egg into the broth would add something nice. I used to do that with ramen back in college. SO comforting.

[Cucinista]

I read this and wanted to try it too, but you more than did it justice. I have really been enjoying reading your posts, looking at your photos, and salivating over your recipes. Thanks for your efforts!

[Katie]

Thank you for sharing this, we're having it for dinner shortly with some fresh soba noodles. Yum, I'm excited.

[Claudia Haas]

This sounds wonderful - I am a brothololic (chicken broth, noodles and parmesan).This would be a lovely change!

[Rachel]

I really love your blog. your profile photo on the left is adorable.

[Melody Elliott]

We have this type of "soup" most Sundays with a poached egg on top. I add some miso, spinach, spring onions, etc. I buy the noodles in the asian produce section..fresh.

Yours looks delish!

[Anne]

Thanks for being so brave and exposing a culinary skeleton in your closet. Though the fact you made your ketchup sandwiches with German bread and not the Wonder variety somewhat redeems your foodie status!

You are becoming my go-to for easy meals. The roasted shrimp and broccoli is now a family fave and I think this will soon be added to our list.

[Kasey]

When I first read this read in the New York Times, I was debating whether on not this would taste like anything other than soy sauce. It reminds me of my college days--ramen and more ramen :)

[Cam]

Agreed: this is delicious. I just made it with soba noodles (you're right; it's great) and posted at www.whattoeatblog.com. I'll be coming back to this one for sure. Cheap, easy, and really delicious.

[molly]

i LOVE the simplicity of this dish. it sounds quite delish too. will try it maybe tonight.

[laura]

I made this a few weeks ago & it was surprisingly delicious: http://www.clovesandcream.com/2009/03/fusion-somen-noodles-with-prawns.html

I never would have pegged ketchup as the star ingredient.

[Sues]

This looks like exactly what I would LOVE for dinner right now! And I'm on a super sriacha kick!

[Jan Scott]

I think my family would love this meal...and I love the simplicity of the recipe. Thank you for sharing and I think I'm going to give it a try next week post-holiday eating....

[Janie]

How does a butter sandwich sound? I used to leave the dinner table with two pieces of white bread spread with butter (tub butter I think, not even the real stuff) and slapped together to eat while I played with friends.

I've also seen noodles with BBQ sauce that looks really good.

[Mama JJ]

Oh my. I am a GOON! I made the sauce and added it to the noodles, thinking it seemed waaaay too thick and strong. I checked later and sure enough, you're supposed to add water to the sauce---HA! (That's what I get for speed-reading recipes while simultaneously multi-tasking and pondering ethereal thoughts.)

My kids didn't like it (we have leftover sauce concentrate and they WILL be trying it again), but I watered my serving down and added some sauteed spinach with garlic and onion and it was delicious.

[Rebecca]

oh, thank you--looks like a healthier alternative to those Ramen cravings I admit I occasionally have...the gingerbread looks awesome, too--I love Edna Lewis.

[Lacey]

Hey, new reader :)

MAN that looks good. and simple. and delicious. And noodle-ey. I'm a pasta fanatic of all sorts, I will totally be making this.

Awesome blog.

[Mel @ bouchonfor2.com]

I recall viewing that article and thinking to myself... it sounds like something I made after coming home from a party in high school... in a good way. Comfort food way. Never did use ketchup though :)

[Shelley]

I made this today for lunch. It was really good. I did leave out 1 cup of the water and added a smidge of chicken stock base, but other than that, I was quite pleased. YUMMYLICIOUS!

[Bex]

I just tried this! I don't have all the ingredients, so instead used ketchup, soy sauce, sesame oil and worcester sauce, and added king prawns, leeks (no scallions in the house) and jalapenos (for a fiery kick) to the noodles.

Very nice! :-)

[Sonja]

I sometimes make a "Japanese inspired quick fix" based on a similar sauce, using soy, mirin, puréed tomatoes, sugar, dark sesame oil and shichimi (Japanese chili mixture). If I feel like it, I add some vegetables and/or seafood and let them simmer in the sauce. Really yummy with soba or udon noodles!

[Luisa]

I'm loving all these new combinations you guys are coming up with - good job!

[eliz]

I made (and blogged about) this, too, and I couldn't resist the urge to throw all sorts of things in and on, like green onions, bean sprouts, leftover chicken and some shrimp. Not authentic, but not bad at all.

http://tinyurl.com/cj56pz

[Emily]

I really love your blog and hope that someday I can cook like you, so the fact that you have used ketchup on pasta, something I used to eat as a child (and still do) made me shriek with joy! I also blogged about Bittman's ketchup/soy sauce recipe and my secret love of ketchup. Keep up the amazing work!

http://tinyurl.com/d2b8g3