Clear broths, sour soups and noodle bowls. Several of these are a whole dinner rather than a starter.
All 6 recipes
Tom Yum Goong
Thailand's famous hot and sour prawn soup. Sharp, fragrant and restorative. The aromatics are meant to be left in the bowl, not eaten.
Chicken Tinola
A clear ginger broth with chicken and green papaya. The lightest thing in the Filipino repertoire, and what gets cooked when somebody in the house is unwell.
Pho Bo
Hanoi beef noodle soup. The broth is the whole dish, and charring the ginger and onion before they go in is what gives it that smoky depth.
French Onion Soup
Soupe a l'oignon gratinee. Almost nothing in it but onions, and the entire dish depends on caramelising them far longer than feels reasonable.
Arroz Caldo
Filipino chicken and ginger rice porridge, finished with toasted garlic, spring onion and a squeeze of calamansi. What gets cooked when it rains, or when somebody is ill.
Tiyula Itum
Tausug black soup from Sulu: beef simmered with burnt coconut, lemongrass and ginger until the broth turns dark and smoky. Traditionally mild rather than fiery, and served at gatherings.