Sunday, May 6, 2012

The Amazing Cold Cure (and it even tastes super good!)

I got this recipe a few years ago from my friend Shannon; ever since, my knee-jerk reaction to anyone mentioning that they have a cold is to offer up this recipe.  It's so good that it's become a staple of my gluten-free diet-- even when I don't have a cold!

It's no wonder that it's delicious when it's a concoction of garlic, ginger, green onions, sesame oil, soy sauce, salt, chili flakes, cabbage, and noodles (usually I use mung bean noodles but rice noodles work great too).



The email from Shannon simply states:

Don't forget the "cold cure". Crush raw garlic and ginger, add sesame
oil, salt, hot pepper oil (or chili flakes), soy sauce, water and some
rice wine. Cut up green onions and mix together. Spoon over noodles
and blanched cabbage or sprouts. It's delicious and it works.
No measurements or anything... so you can just whip it up to suit your tastes.


I start with a generous tablespoon of sesame oil...


And then add a big splash of rice wine vinegar and soy sauce.  I toss in a good dash of chili flakes, a twist of freshly ground salt, and usually about two chopped green onions. 


Then I grate ~3 or 4 garlic cloves and chunk of fresh ginger about the same size of garlic added.


To prepare the noodles, boil a bit of water in a sauce pan.


 and drop in the noodles.


 They will become soft quite quickly (within a minute or so), so have your cabbage pre-shred.


Add the shredded cabbage to the sauce pan and let cook for ~ 1 minute to blanch the cabbage.


Transfer the noodles and cabbage to a soup bowl


and spoon the sauce over the noodles and cabbage.


Sometimes I'll add other ingredients such as chicken, chopped peanuts, cilantro, or a lime wedge.  I don't know what these will do for the efficacy as a cold cure, but they go well with the dish!