I am sick today.
Not very sick, mind you, but just sick enough that I feel pretty OK about lounging around my house in pajamas, whimpering softly at regular intervals and eating nothing but soup and clementines all day.
When Emese and I got sick in first year (yes, we got sick at the same time…) we used to make super garlicky things–mostly broccoli with garlic–because garlic gets rid of a cold. We would eat them together, because, as everyone knows, it’s not offensive to stuff your face with garlic as long as the only other person in the room is doing the same thing. And when that didn’t work, we went to “Spicy Soup,” which was our nickname for Pho Dong Huang, a relatively unknown Vietnamese restaurant at Belleville, and tried to force our colds to suffocate beneath layers of spicy Sriracha and aromatic cilantro.
After my heavily-garlicked tomato soup didn’t cure my cold immediately, the American Proust Fan and I decided to make dinner plans for Spicy Soup, and so we bundled up and headed for the métro. Nearly an hour later, we arrived to discover that what had once been my favorite little hole in the wall, relatively unknown and the perfect place to stop by for a quick dinner, was now packed to the gills with other people, people who weren’t here three years ago when the waiters recognized me and Emese and our identical order of “two P5s and a lot of Sriracha.”
Oh well. Things change. Luckily, this soup hasn’t. After hanging around the kitchen area for what felt like forever, suffering as the tantalizing smells of other peoples’ soup wafted our way, we finally took our seats and placed our order: the American Proust Fan let me order for her, and so, within minutes, two identical steaming bowls of soup arrived. I believe I may have actually clapped with glee.
When I drowned mine with hot chili sauce, however, the man at the table next to us got very worried.
“Oh, les filles ! C’est piquant, ca ! It’s very hot!”
“Je sais. J’adore,” I replied, adding a little bit more and stirring until what had been beige became orange-red and spicy. He must have taken me for a real loony, but in the end, the American Proust Fan and I had our fill of spicy soup and red bean drink to boot.
Now I’m just waiting for my cold to go away.
Pho Dong Huang
14, rue Louis Bonnet
Garlicky Tomato Soup
1 tsp. olive oil
1 yellow onion, chopped
2 cloves of garlic, minced
1 tsp. salt
1 tsp. red chili flakes
400 g. tomato purée
1 tbsp. dried basil
1 tsp. black pepper
Heat the olive oil over medium-low heat and add the onion. Cook slowly until it becomes translucent and slightly golden, 10-12 minutes. Add the garlic, salt and chili flakes and cook until fragrant, 1-2 minutes.
Add the tomato purée and half its volume of water. Turn heat up to high and simmer about 10-15 minutes, until the appropriate consistency is reached.
Turn off the heat and blend using an immersion blender to make a purée. Add the basil and pepper. Feel free to whine with self-pity as you eat.
On a scale of 1-10, 1 being an enchilada at Chevy’s Mexican Restaurant and 10 being raw Thai pepper, Sriracha is a 3 at worst. You can eat it with a spoon. His “gallant” warning totally made me think him a wimp (I’m sure he intended the opposite effect).
I do love the pho at Dong Huong. But I might love the soup at a little Chinese hole-in-the-wall about a block and a half up the rue de Belleville even more. Next time you’re in the neighborhood, check out Restaurant Raviolis (it’s right next to Lao Siam). They have this incredible chili paste. It’s not all that spicy, but it’s really tasty.