thai tofu curry noodle soup

a cozy, simple, and delicious soup

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TOFU?! Yep, tofu. We’re doing it. It’s time. In an entire year of What To Cook recipes, I somehow managed not to include a single tofu recipe. Honestly? I don’t eat it often! But every time I do, I enjoy it so much that I resolve to do so more often — and this recipe will help all of us do just that. It hits all the right addictive flavor notes and I legitimately ate it for seven days straight while developing this recipe and never tired of it.

Six months ago I took a poll on IG, asking you guys which proteins you’re intimidated by but interested in learning how to cook with, and pork, scallops, and tofu topped the list.

We’ve tackled pork and scallops, but tofu fell off my radar until I recently read Crying in H Mart (highly recommend but holy shit it’s so heartbreaking) and the author referenced soondubu jjigae — a delicious Korean soup that I used to order all the time when we lived in the South Bay with a multitude of Korean restaurants at our fingertips. It’s a spicy stew with kimchi and soft tofu and it is a delight. If you ever get the chance, you should order it.

That’s not what we’re making this week, but the soondubu reference got my wheels spinning about what a great flavor vessel tofu is. It soaks up whatever sauce or broth it’s thrown into so perfectly, basically becoming a little flavor bomb of whatever it is you’ve cooked up. Red curry paste is one of my all-time favorite pantry ingredients, and you guys already have it in your pantries from last month’s Peanut Vegetable Curry, so I knew it would be my flavor base. Throw in some veggies, coconut milk, stock, and noodles, and bam, we have an incredibly easy, absurdly flavorful curry noodle soup. It’s creamy, spiced — but not spicy — full of nutritious vegetables, noodles, and greens for fiber, and it just absolutely rocks. Not to mention, it’s accidentally rather Christmas-y — lots of red and green!

In case you missed ‘em, here are the recipes where we tackled pork and scallops:

• You can find all of the pork recipes from the year here. The most popular were:

  • 30-minute Pork Lettuce Wraps with Coconut Rice (I could eat this every day.)

  • Sheet-Pan Balsamic Glazed Pork with Fennel and Potatoes (This one is a saucy wonderland.)

  • Pork Chops with Creamed Corn and Kale (This works perfectly well with frozen white corn, just let it defrost before blending it up.)

• 30-Minute Scallops with Succotash (Frozen white corn totally works here too!)

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ingredient spotlights

First, let’s talk tofu. Tofu is basically a block of condensed soy milk that packs lots of plant-based protein as well as other important nutrients. It is delicious when:

• Baked into crispy cubes or strips. You can throw crispy tofu atop rice bowls or salads, or even just with a good dipping sauce (OK, or ketchup) for an easy and toddler-approved main course. Think of it like vegetarian chicken nuggets! When you’re baking tofu, you want to press hard it between paper towels for about 10 minutes (put a cast iron on top!) first to drain excess moisture out, then add some type of flavor to it, like oil and soy sauce with a teaspoon of cornstarch or arrowroot powder (that helps the flavors adhere). Spread it out on a baking sheet and bake at 425F for 30ish minutes, until crisp.

• Cubed and stirred into soups — just like we’re doing here. Like I said, it absorbs all of the flavor that it’s cooked in.

• Blended into dips, smoothies, dressings, etc. It adds great creaminess, protein and nutrients.

Anytime you’re looking to cube tofu, like for this soup or when baking it into crispy bites, you want to buy firm or extra firm tofu so that it will hold its shape while cooking. If you’re going the smoothie/dip/salad dressing route with your tofu, look for silken tofu.

This recipe also includes not one but TWO red bell peppers. If you’ve done a Good Mood Food plan in the past, you know how much I love incorporating red bell peppers into my diet. They are incredibly low in calories, while packing more than three times the amount of vitamin C as an orange! Plus they’re full of vitamin A and vitamin B6, which helps chemical reactions in your immune system work better.

Here’s the best way to cut one and not get tiny seeds all over your kitchen:

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thai tofu curry noodle soup

Serves 4 to 6

Cook time: ~15 minutes active time, 30 minutes total

Tools:

• Large pot or Dutch oven

• Chef’s knife

• Cutting board

• Tongs

• Ladle