Recipe: Chef Inamdar's Hearty Thukpa

Varun Inamdar's Hearty Thukpa is a bowl of soup featuring noodles, momos and a bunch of veggies.

Must daily fare, especially in the winter, in the North East, Ladakh, Sikkim, Darjeeling, Himachal, Uttarakhand, in this version of thukpa the chef sneaks in heart-healthy walnuts without compromising on the taste.

Hearty Thukpa

Serves: 3-4

Ingredients

• 1 cup cooked noodles, regular Hakka noodles will work well
• 1-2 tsp Schezwan sauce
• 1 cup or less thinly sliced beans and julienned carrots
• 4 cups chicken or vegetable stock (please see note below)
• 1 tsp freshly crushed black pepper
• Salt to taste
• 8 chicken or veg momos, available frozen in cold storage shops and grocery stores or use this recipe to make it from scratch
• ¼ cup walnuts, chopped roughly, optional

Method

• Heat the stock in a wok or kadhai over medium heat.
  Allow it to simmer.
  Add the salt, pepper, momos, noodles, chopped vegetables, Schezwan sauce and allow it to simmer for 3 minutes.
  Stir in the walnuts and serve hot.

Editor's Note: For more added flavour, you might prefer to add 10-12 pods, finely chopped garlic, 2 tsp grated ginger, 1-2 tsp soy sauce,a squeeze of lemon and ¼ cup chopped spring onions.

Liquid broth is available in some gourmet food stores. Or substitute the chicken broth by combining 2 chicken soup cubes or 2 chicken broth/bouillon cubes or 2 tsp chicken broth/bouillon powder with 4 cups boiling water.
Or substitute the vegetable broth by combining 2 vegetable soup cubes or 2 vegetable broth/bouillon cubes or 2 tsp vegetable broth/bouillon powder with 4 cups boiling water.

Or make chicken broth from scratch by boiling 5-6 cups water with a 500 gm packet of chicken soup bones or one whole chicken, roughly cut till the chicken is well cooked and falls off the bone.
Strain and use 4 cups for the recipe.
Freeze the rest for future use.

Or make vegetable broth from scratch by boiling 4-5 cups water with 1-2 large roughly chopped carrots, 3 stalks roughly chopped celery with leaves, 2 medium onions chopped in chunks, 5-6 whole black peppercorns, 2 tsp salt, 4 tbsp chopped parsley with stems, 2 laung or cloves, 5 pods garlic, 2 tej patta or bay leaves till vegetables are tender and the water is steeped with the flavour of the vegetables and spices.
Strain and use 4 cups for the recipe.
Freeze the rest for future use.

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