USA: Hawaii - Saimin Soup

 

Saimin is made up of two chinese words that mean 'thin' and 'noodle'. Saimin soup is usually made with wholemeal egg noodles but since I couldn't get those I used soba noodles which are also wholemeal.

Saimin soup was sold from food wagons as early as the 1900s, to farmers and workers in Hawaii. They have become popular again in recent years and can be made with a variety of toppings.

Ingredients:

1 package noodles

3 cups chicken stock

1 tablespoon minced ginger

2 tablespoons soy sauce

Toppings:

sliced spam

sliced pork

peas

spring onions

sliced green cabbage

scrambled eggs

I prepared all the toppings before I made the soup. I sliced and fried the spam and pork. Scrambled 2 eggs. Sliced the cabbage and spring onions.

In a large pan of salted water I cooked the noodles and then drained them.

In the same large pan I added the chicken stock, ginger and soy sauce. Stirring as they combined.

I put the toppings in the pan (keeping some back for garnish) and gave them a good stir. Leave them for a few minutes to heat through.

Add the noodles back to the pan and stir well to distribute the toppings through the noodles.

Heap some noodles in the middle of your serving dish and then add some toppings, finish with a ladle full of the stock. Enjoy!

I enjoyed the gingery stock with the noodles. It seems funny that spam is popular in Hawaii but it's soft saltiness was perfect in this soup along with the other toppings. I think it's just me but I'm not too keen on wet noodle dishes like this. It's hard to eat without dribbling stock everywhere. It tasted good though and I just wiped the table afterwards! I'd love to try some authentic Saimin in Hawaii one day.