Sopas

Clasess are suspended due to a typhoon- and the Holloween Costume Party at Claire's school was cancelled. Bummer... The kids are at home and I was thinking of what to cook for them in a rainy day like this. I checked the pantry and thought of Sopas- milky soup as my daughter calls it.  

 

Sopas is a very versatile dish. You can toss in any ingredient available. Usually shredded chicken is used, together with diced potatoes, carrots, celery and shredded cabbage. In this version, I used what is readily on hand- pork shanks, chayote, and carrots. It turned out well- my daughter had 4 servings! Try it out and don't be scared to experiment.

 

 

Ingredients:

 

2 pcs pork shanks (bias)

1 pc. chayote (sayote), diced

2 pcs. carrots, diced

2 cups macaroni noodles (shell or elbow)

5 cloves of garlic, crushed

3 pcs medium onions, diced

2 tbsp. butter

1 can evaporated milk (Big Carnation)

1/2 cup Grated Cheese (Eden Cheese)

1 pc. Knorr Beef Cubes

1/3 cup Fish Sauce (patis)

Salt

Ground Pepper

 

 

1. Boil the Pork shanks. Remove the scum by scimming with your ladel. Drop in the beef cubes and let it simmer. This is the soup base or the broth.

 

2. In a separate pan, heat in a tablespoon of oil and add in the butter. Saute the garlic and onion until light brown. Add in the veggies-carrots and sayote. Saute until it browns a little and it starts to stick on the pan. Transfer everything on the simmering pot of broth. Scrape the brown bits in the pan, you can even pour a little broth so you can get all the bits and pieces sticking on the pan. (This will give more flavor to your soup)

 

3. Turn up the heat and add in 2 cups of macaroni noodles. As it cooks, you can start to season your soup- pour in patis and sprinkle with a pinch or two of ground black pepper. When the noodles begins to soften, you can add in the milk and some grated cheese. Let it simmer. Add salt and season according to taste.