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Mexico, Americas

Sopa de Fideo (Mexican Tomato Noodle Soup)

Thin noodles toasted golden in oil, then simmered in a tomato and chicken broth: the gentle, comforting soup cooked in homes all over Mexico.

ServingsServes 2
Total cooking time22 min
DifficultyEasy

Method

  1. Roughly chop the tomatoes, onion and garlic and blend them with a little of the chicken stock until completely smooth. If the skins bother you, push it through a sieve.

    Add in this stepRipe tomatoes 250 gOnion ¼Garlic cloves 1Chicken stock 98 ml

  2. Heat the oil in a 18 cm pot on medium heat, add the fideo and toast it for , stirring constantly, until evenly deep golden and smelling nutty. It can burn in seconds, so don't walk away.

    Add in this stepVegetable oil 1½ tbspFideo noodles (short thin pasta; or vermicelli or angel hair broken into 3 cm pieces) 80 g

    medium heat

  3. Pour in the tomato purée all at once (it spits hard, so step back). Cook on medium heat for , stirring, until it turns a shade darker and thickens slightly. Frying the purée like this removes the raw tomato taste.

    medium heat

  4. Add the rest of the stock, the salt and the cilantro sprigs, bring to the boil on medium-high heat, then turn down to medium-low heat and simmer for until the noodles are tender. Taste and add salt if needed. The noodles keep soaking up broth, so turn the heat off while it still looks a little brothy.

    Add in this stepChicken stock 553 mlSalt ½ tspCilantro sprigs 1

    medium-high heat→medium-low heat

  5. Fish out the cilantro sprigs and ladle into bowls. Serve with lime wedges, diced avocado and crumbled queso fresco for everyone to add at the table.

    Add in this stepLime ½Avocado ½Queso fresco (or mild feta) 30 g

Cook's tip

How dark you toast the fideo decides the flavour: too pale is bland, black is bitter. Leftovers thicken as the noodles swell, so add a splash of stock or water when reheating. For heat, blend in half a chipotle with the tomatoes.

Cooking it at camp

One pot and one burner are all you need. Instead of a blender, grate the tomatoes on a box grater and discard the skins, and chop the onion and garlic very finely. A stock cube dissolved in water saves packing space.