Tết is just around the corner. Despite being thousands of miles away from Vietnam, I could relive vividly traversing through the busy street packed with motorbikes; my ears deafened by their honks. On the left, a man practices a delicate balancing act, transporting a full-grown apricot blossom tree on his disproportionately tiny vehicle. On the right, a taxi driver fidgets in his seat, his fingers tapping the wheel as he glances across the red-golden Happy New Year stickers on the front window. A few meters ahead, the entrance to the familiar morning market disappears into rows of street vendors selling everything from red envelopes to artificial flowers to last-minute shoppers and enthusiastic hoarders.
The hectic sight. The blaring noise. The smoky smell as the breeze sweeps through the air.
Gone they will be tomorrow. The street will be quiet, woken by the occasional vrooms of the few vehicles passing by.
But inside the home, laughter and chatter abound. A group of cousins over here play poker to test their luck for the new year, while over there, grandchildren smile ear to ear as they recite their best wishes to the elders.
On the communal dining table, there are bánh chưng (square glutinous rice cake) cut into quarters, with pickled scallion heads, soy sauce and dried shrimps on the side. And because it’s the first day of the lunar month, there are also vegetarian dishes for those who observe the tradition. The most common one is hủ tiếu chay, vegetarian noodle soup served with clear vegetable broth with toppings such as fried wonton and mushroom ham for some crunch to accompany the tender vegetables.
That is how my family starts our Tết celebration. A clean noodle soup to embrace our religious belief and prepare our palate for the upcoming feast.
Vegetarian Noodle Soup
Ingredients
Broth
- 1 carrot peeled and cut into bite-size chunks
- 1 daikon radish peeled and cut into bite-size chunks
- 1 apple cored and cut into wedges
- 1 onion halved
- 2 liters water
Crispy wonton
- ¼ cup oil
- 100 g wonton wrappers cut into thin strips
To assemble
- 400 g napa cabbage clean and sliced
- 300 g mushroom cut into quarters
- 200 g fried tofu I use pre-fried tofu wedges that come in a package; you can also use regular firm or medium-firm tofu
- 400 g noodle of your choice cooked according to package instruction
- 3 stalks green onion thinly sliced
- 3 stalks cilantro
- Salt & pepper to taste
Instructions
- In a stock pot, add all of the ingredients for the broth and let simmer for one hour. Season to taste with salt and pepper. Once done, discard the apple wedges.
- In a small sauce pan, heat the oil on medium heat and fry the wonton wrappers until golden. This will take around 2-3 minutes. Remove them from the oil and sprinkle some salt and pepper on top.
- To assemble one bowl: heat up 2 ladles of broth in a small pan, toss in the cabbage, mushroom and fried tofu cubes and continue to cook until the broth boils and the vegetables are tender.
- Ladle the hot broth onto one serving of noodle, garnish with spring onion, cilantro and fried wonton strips.
