I made some quick flour soup tonight and it was pretty alright.
First I mixed together flour, garlic powder, a bit of salt, paprika, a few drops of toasted sesame oil, and water to make my flour “pasta.” I mixed it together in a small bowl that I then placed in the fridge to chill it for about 15 to 20 minutes.
The base was fish bouillon (cost like $10 but I probably used $0.20 worth, and you could use whatever broth you like), a splash of mirin, a splash of white wine vinegar, a splash of soy sauce, garlic powder, dried onion flakes, a little toasted sesame oil, and hot pepper flakes.
With the broth boiling, I added a salmon fillet I found in the freezer (leftover from a bag of single vacuum-packed fillets) and some frozen mussels I bought from safeway.
After a minute, I added about half a bag of frozen California-style vegetables (carrots, cauliflower, broccoli) then some cut up tofu.
When the broth was bubbling again, I used a metal spoon to cut small bits of the flour pasta into the soup. You dip the spoon into the hot broth, then scoop out a small bit of the flour mixture, and it should just slide right off the spoon into the broth without sticking.
I added the flour bits all around the soup, waiting 10 seconds, then stirred the soup so the flour bits went to the bottom, then added more. You don’t want to add the flour bits so close together that they stick together in a blob.
I lowered the soup to a simmer and let it cook until the vegetables were done and the flour bits were chewy and a bit translucent. (If they taste like flour, they’re not cooked enough. They shouldn’t be in any way crumbly either.)
It’s a very simple and quick to make soup.
I don’t like mixing rice and noodles, but if you wanted you could add a scoop of rice to a bowl and top it with the soup.
You can add sliced jalapenos for a bit of a kick. Or you could crack in a couple of eggs, and either don’t stir them for a minute to have solid bits of egg or immediately stir them so they mix completely with the broth and add thickness without chunks. Or you could add some kimchi or spinach or kale or cut up green cabbage, napa cabbage, or bok choy.
It’s a very forgiving soup that’s cheap to make and surprisingly filling.
It fed three people with a bowl leftover. Probably cost less than $15 altogether.
The bag of salmon was like $10 when I bought it, and I only used one fillet. You don’t even need to add salmon or other kind of fish if you don’t have any. Or you could use canned salmon, canned mackerel, canned tuna, cooked beef, chicken, or pork, whatever you want. With a vegetable broth you could make a vegetarian or vegan flour soup with or without faux meat.
The whole bag of frozen vegetables was like $1. The package of tofu was $1.50. The mussels cost $3.99. A bottle of soy sauce is like $4. A bottle of mirin is like $4. A bottle of white wine vinegar is like $4. The garlic powder and dry onion cost $1 each. The bag of all-purpose flour was less than $3.
If you’ve got a stock of staple ingredients, you can make a pretty deluxe-style flour soup for less than $2 a serving. And if you’re a bit skimp on the money, you could add more water to make more broth, serve the soup over rice, and spread four-servings to six or eight.
