Green Tea, Tofu, and Noodle Soup

Sarah from Simply Cooked was our November Daring Cooks’ hostess and she challenged us to create something truly unique in both taste and technique! We learned how to cook using tea with recipes from Tea Cookbook by Tonia George and The New Tea Book by Sara Perry.

We could choose our own savory,  tea-based recipe or make Beef Braised in Rooibos Tea with Sweet Potatoes, Chinese Tea Eggs and Green Tea, Tofu, and Noodle Soup. As I constantly feel like the rabbit in Alice in Wonderland right now I was thrilled that the Green Tea, Tofu, and Noodle Soup required only 30-minutes and I chose it so I could complete my first challenge in months.

I followed the provided recipe using local napa cabbage for the greens, substituting soba noodles for the egg noodles and adding cilantro for visual flair (and flavor) at the end. The broth was very delicate, too much so for my taste. I ended up adding lime juice, s'rircha and additional soy sauce and sesame oil to amp up the flavor yet still felt like something was missing. Perhaps the soba noodles were too much for the broth? Either way I don't plan to revisit the recipe.

That said based on the descriptors used by my fellow Daring Cooks - luscious, refreshing and delicious - I will be looking further into cooking with tea. Especially as tea is a great way to add flavor without calories or a lot of cost. View the recipes and Sarah's other ideas for cooking with tea here and check out those tasty sounding results here.