Sopa de Fideo

Tweet
Pin It

Sopa de Fideo, the classic home noodle soup of Mexico, owes it’s distinguished rich nutty flavor to the toasting of the pasta prior to cooking. It’s an easy soup to make because it uses simple ingredients. Tomato, onion, garlic, water, salt and pepper. Most Mexican recipes include a cube of chicken bouillon or stock. The expression “too many cooks in the kitchen”, applies to this soup. It hardly needs garnishes. I chose to include cilantro and a sprinkle of mini-strips of chile negro.

Serve as a starter dish or full meal; midday or dinner. Let’s get started.

Ingredient

Serves 4

3 medium tomatoes. Save 1/2 tomato diced for garnish

1 clove garlic

1/4 medium onion

6 cups chicken broth

4 ounces fideo (vermicelli) Short cut preferred.

2 tablespoons extra virgen

1 pod chile, negro (ancho, pasilla)

2 tablespoons cilantro, roughly chopped

Salt and Pepper

Preparation

The Chile Garnish

Remove the stem and seeds and rinse twice with water discarding the rinse water. Place it in a bowl and cover with water. After soaking for 20 minutes, julienne cut the chile and set.

The soup

Chicken stock is not a requirement for this classic soup but it surely adds flavor. Link here for a basic CHICKEN STOCK recipe.

Puree the onions, garlic and tomatoes in a food processor, adding a little water if needed. Into a 4 quart pot, pour in the vegetable liquid. Add the chicken soup and simmer gently for about 20 minutes. Season with salt and pepper.

Heat the remaining oil in an 8-inch skillet over medium heat. When hot, add the fideo and sauté, turning them gently, until golden brown. Transfer the fideo to the pot and cook until tender, about 7 to 8 minutes. Serve immediately, garnishing each portion with a sprig of cilantro. and chile negro. Accompany with corn or flour tortillas or a crusty bread.

Notes:

Making your own chicken broth is always preferable but if I’m short on time I will use store bought low sodium chicken broth. Mexicans use a short cut fideo but I used the coiled vermicelli. It was difficult to get even browning with the coiled vermicelli; I got charred strands of fideo. If you use coiled, break it up into spoon length size.

Buen Provecho

Subscribe to email notifications for new posts HERE. And I look forward to your comments below.