Vietnamese style Vegetarian noodle soup

Today i made one of my favorite styles of food, Vietnamese. Never been in Vietnam, but sure would love to go there one day to taste the food and learn about their culture. This is a lovely comfort food for a cold rainy day! Here is a recipe for you to try out:

Ingredients:

Portion about 2-4 persons

• 1 packet of ready fried tofu (you can find this in most Asian stores frozen or fresh)
• 2-3 big cloves of Garlic
• Small piece of fresh Ginger
• Red chili ( as much as you can take, i put one big one, without the seeds)
• 3 small carrots
• 1 lime
• 1 branch of Lemon grass
• Salted peanuts
• Half eggplant
• Fresh Coriander
• Bean sprouts
• Bok Choy (you can find this in most Asian markets)
• 1 small Broccoli
• 2 fresh Shiitake mushrooms
• 1 branch of Celery
• 3 branches of fresh spring onion
• Vegetable broth (Knorr; Vegetable fond "Du Chef")
• Rice noodles ( You can find these in most Asian stores, i picked the wide ones)
• Soy sauce (Kikkoman)
• Sesame Oil ( i used special Sesame-Ginger mix oil)
• Fish sauce (optional) If you want to make a vegan version, just use soy sauce.
• Basic cooking oil

First chop the tofu into smaller pieces and marinade it with soy, sesame oil and fish sauce. Meanwhile start prepping the other stuff. Cut garlic cloves, ginger and chili into small pieces. Put them on side in a bowl. Cut vegetables (carrot, broccoli, eggplant, celery and Shiitake mushrooms) into pieces and put them a side in a bowl. Make the broth by adding about 1 liter water in a pot, one vegetable broth (i used the fresh one). Add some soy sauce & fish sauce into the mix. Cut some lemon crass (hack it with knife first) and add it into the broth. Add also some of the chilies, garlic and ginger into the mix. I also added little bit fresh spring onion. Heat up to boil, and let it be on a low heat. Taste that it's salty enough! Same time you can start cooking the tofu on a hot pan. Add some cooking oil, bring up to heat and fry the tofu nice and golden brown. Put the ready Tofu on a bowl to wait. Boil some water with water boiler, add the rice noodles in a big bowl and pour the water in. Let the noodles rest in the hot water for about 5-10 minutes, until they are soft and ready. Meanwhile start cooking the vegetables. Add some oil, garlic, ginger and chili on the pan after cooking the tofu and pour the vegetables in. Mix it well, you can let it cook under a lit if you have some, but don't cook it too long. Vegetables need to be fresh and crispy. When vegetables look to be quite ready, add the beansprouts, bok choy and the cooked tofu on the mix. Mix it well, let it cook for a little bit, until the bok choy looks soft. Pour the water out from the noodles and add a nice pile on a plate. Add the vegetable mix on top and pour some broth in. Squeeze some lime juice on top and add some fresh coriander too. Hack some salty peanuts in a mortar and pour it on the top. Enjoy!