10 Delicious Asian Soups for the Soul

As I sit down to write this post I suddenly remember the lyrics from “harder to breathe” by Maroon “When it gets cold outside and you got nobody to love…” Well for me when it is cold outside, I always love my soup – light yet satisfying and deeply comforting.

My love affair with Asian soups began when I first visited Thailand and roamed around the food streets experiencing the heavenly aroma of lemongrass, coconut milk, ginger, lime and fish sauce from cauldrons of broths and soup.

In this chilly weather, what could be more satiating for the soul than slurping on a steaming bowl of tender noodles, meat and vegetables floating on delicious broth as the flavors explode on every slurp. Yummm!

The best part is that you can experiment and improvise the soup as per your personal taste rather than following any standard recipe. So let’s check out these 10 delicious Asian Soups :)

Tom Yum Soup (Thailand):

Tom yum is characterized by its distinct hot and sour flavors and it's one of the main signature dishes that defines Thai flavor. It is usually cooked with shrimp and the basic broth is made of stock and fresh ingredients such as lemongrass, kaffir lime leaves, galangal, lime juice, fish sauce, and crushed chili pepper.

Thukpa Bathuk (Tibet):

Thukpa Bhathuk is a common Tibetan cuisine noodle soup that includes small bhasta noodles. Tibetans traditionally use mutton or yak for the meat, but the vegetarian incarnation is equally delicious.

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Mohinga (Myanmar):

Mohinga is a rice noodle and fish soup from Myanmar and is an essential part of Burmese cuisine (popularly served as breakfast). It is considered by many to be the national dish of Myanmar. The main ingredients of mohinga are chickpea flour and/or crushed toasted rice, garlic, onions, lemongrass, banana tree stem, ginger, fish paste, fish sauce, and catfish in a rich broth cooked and kept on the boil in a cauldron. It is served with rice vermicelli, dressed and garnished with fish sauce, a squeeze of lime, crisp fried onions, coriander, spring onions, crushed dried chilies.

Laksa (Malaysia):

Laksa is a popular spicy noodle soup. It consists of rice noodles or rice vermicelli with chicken, prawn or fish, served in spicy soup; either based on rich and spicy curry coconut milk, or based on sour asam (tamarind or gelugur).

Soba Noodle & Shiitake Soup (Japan):

This Asian soup is fragrant with fresh ginger while shiitake mushrooms, spinach and soba noodles make it satisfying.

Wonton Noodle Soup (China):

Wonton noodle soup is a popular Cantonese noodle dish served in a hot broth, garnished with leafy vegetables, and wonton dumplings (usually shrimp wontons). It contains prawns, chicken or pork and spring onions.

Soto Ayam (Indonesia):

Soto Ayam is a popular spicy yellow (from turmeric) chicken noodle soup served with many garnishes such as Fried shallots hard-boiled eggs, slices of fried potatoes, Chinese celery leaves and occasionally topped with sambal.

Jjamppong (South Korea):

Jjamppong is a South Korean spicy noodle soup flavored with onions and chili oil and one of the most enjoyed (take-out) delivery food in Korea.

Pho (Vietnam):

Pho is a Vietnamese noodle soup consisting of broth, linguine-shaped rice noodles called bánh phở, a few herbs, and meat, primarily served with meat.

Kuyteav (Cambodia):

Kuyteav is a traditional pork broth-based rice noodle soup dish (popular breakfast dish) in Cambodia. It is always served with the garnishes of lettuce leaves, bean sprouts, chopped scallions, sawtooth coriander, black Kampot pepper, lime juice, and caramelized garlic oil. Kuyteav may be served in one of two ways, with all the ingredients in the soup, or with the soup on the side. Both versions have the same ingredients and allow the diner to control the balance of flavors, temperatures and textures.

Hope you enjoyed reading these bowls of comfort guaranteed to warm you to the bone. Do let us know about your favorite Asian Soups in the comments section and always remember; you can have soup anytime you want.

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