Southeast Asian chicken noodle soup

Sometimes I worry about categorizing something as a particular kind of ethnic cuisine when I don't actually know how people of that culture prepare the food. Sometimes I know that my preparation is not authentic in the least, and I think: do I need to qualify this with "Cheater's"? But then, I spent a couple months in Vietnam and Thailand joyously devouring every dish of food that came my way (ok, maybe not the fetal quail eggs), and I know that the flavors in this soup do accurately represent the flavors used in southeast Asian cooking. And with my tiny kitchen, Stateside location, and aversion to boiling carcasses for stock, this is about the closest I'm going to get.

Another reason for this soup is that I recently started a new medication that makes me chronically, constantly nauseous. It's at a pretty low level, but the loss of appetite is the biggest problem. This was when I realized how weird my body is. During my endless days of nausea, here are the foods that sounded good to me: caramel. pho. cheese. biscuits. dosa. beef. pho. caramel. did I mention pho? Ok, how about some brothy soup? Brothy SE Asian-inspired soup?(We'll get to the caramel obsession eventually)

So, here we are. This soup is fragrant from the lemongrass and ginger, slightly spicy from the chili and garlic, savory from the chicken broth. Fabulous. It's not very filling, due to the lack of protein or complex carbs, but it's a nice snack.

Southeast Asian chicken noodle soup

3 cloves garlic, finely chopped

1/2 inch segment fresh ginger, finely chopped

1 inch segment of lemongrass, finely chopped

Oil for sauteeing (I used coconut oil)

2 cups chicken broth

A few drops of fish sauce

1 1/2 - 2 cups cooked rice noodles

Chopped fresh cilantro and scallions

Lime juice

Heat the oil in a medium-sized pan over medium heat. Add the garlic, lemongrass, and ginger and saute until fragrant. Add chicken broth. Reduce heat to simmer. Add fish sauce. Cover and simmer for 15 or so minutes.

Put a big handful of rice noodles in your bowl, and pour broth over top, through a sieve if you want to avoid the awkward little pieces of lemongrass and ginger. Garnish with cilantro and scallions and add a squeeze of lime juice.