Asian Soup with Spring Vegies

I'm posting this as a customizable approach to a simple asian soup.

First, the broth:

Vegetable or Chicken Stock, 40-45 oz.
1 garlic clove thinly sliced
1 inch of ginger, grated or finely chopped
1/4-1/2 tsp crushed red pepper (optional)

In a medium sized stock pot, but the stock, garlic, and ginger together and bring to a boil.

Next, the noodles:

You can use either soba or udon noodles for this recipe. If you can't find soba, you can use a whole week pasta. 4 oz. of noodles is a good amount for this soup.

Pick whichever noodles you desire, and put them into the boiling broth, reduce to a simmer for the amount of time needed to cook the pasta as directed on the pack.

Next come meat and vegies:

For the meat, you can use thinnly sliced chicken, pork, beef, or even cleaned and deveined shrimp. I used thinly sliced chicken in the picture above, and it turned out great.

For vegies you can use any combination of snap peas or sno peas, red bell pepper or thinly sliced hot chili peppers, bok choy or asparagus, shitake or golden mushrooms, etc. Stick to just a few vegetables to keep the soup elegant, and try to pick vegies that will add some nice color or contrast.

After the noodles have cooked, drop in your sliced vegies and meat. It should only take a few minutes in the boiling broth for the meat to cook. It's important that the vegies don't cook too long, or at too high of a heat, so they stay crisp and fresh.

Finally, the finishing touches.

2 Tsp of Lime juice, or about 1 lime. This adds a wonderful flavor to the soup.
Chopped scallions. Drop in the thinnly sliced white parts of 2-3 scallions.
Instead of scallions or in addition to them you can add some fresh cilantro. 1/4 to 1/2 cup depending on whether or not you use the scallions.
Salt to taste.

Serve the soup fresh and hot a few minutes after you add the finishing touches.

Source: Original