Recipe: Quick Edamame Soup

I saw this recipe posted from VegWeb via Facebook and thought it looked light, simple, and tasty.  Of course, I seem incapable of following a recipe to the letter.  That stems from a slight learning disability, and stubborn independence.  I'll list the recipe as written first, and then tell my modifications.

Quick Edamame Soup

Ingredients:

    1/2 tablespoon peanut or vegetable oil
    1/3 cup scallions, sliced
    1 1/2 tablespoons garlic, chopped
    1 teaspoon minced ginger, optional
    2 small carrots, peeled and sliced on the diagonal
    6 1/4 cups low sodium vegetable broth
    1 cup frozen edamame beans
    1-1 1/4 tablespoons low sodium soy sauce
    1/2-3/4 teaspoon chile garlic sauce
    1/4 teaspoon toasted sesame oil
    5-6 ounces rice noodle pasta (I use 1/3 package of Thai Kitchen Brand)
    salt, to taste

Directions:

1. In a large soup pot or cauldron, place the oil and bring it to medium heat. Once hot, add the scallions and sauté for about 1 minute. Add the garlic, ginger, and carrots and allow to sizzle for about 15-20 seconds more.

2. Add the broth, put the lid on at an angle, and bring the heat up to reach a boil. Once boiling, add the edamame. This will cool the soup down again, so bring it back up to a boil and allow the edamame to boil with the lid at an angle for only 2 1/2 minutes.

3. Remove the lid, stir, and add the soy, chili garlic sauce, and sesame oil. Stir again and add the rice noodles.

4. Once the rice noodles have been added, immediately move the soup from the heat and allow it to stand off the heat for about 12-14 minutes stirring from time to time, until tender. Taste, and adjust seasoning, if needed.

Now for my modifications:
*  I used all toasted sesame oil for a more Asian flavor.
*  I used an entire small bunch of scallions (aka, green onions in our area)
*  I didn't measure the garlic, I guessed
*  I didn't measure the ginger, I guessed
*  I didn't use 2 small carrots, I used about 5 or 6 small ones
*  I'm not a huge fan of vegetable broth, so I used on box of veggie broth and one box of chicken broth (which adds up to about  cups vs the 6 1/4 cups (who makes a soup recipe that measures down to the quarter cup of broth???  Someone with OCD??)
*  Next time I'll add more Edamame
*  I didn't measure the soy sauce, I just guessed
* I didn't have chile garlic sauce so I used some homemade sweet chili sauce from a previous recipe experiment.
*  I couldn't find Thai Kitchen Brand (or any other brand) rice noodles at the one store I was willing to shop at that day, so I used Barilla Brand Orzo (rice sized pasta).
*  I had a left over brick of organic extra firm sprouted tofu in the fridge that needed to get used up.  So I cubed it small and threw it in.
*  In addition to course sea salt, and fresh ground pepper, I added some dashes of hot sauce and some red pepper flakes.  What can I say, I was cold the day I made it.

*  Then later that day, I had cooked a local, organic chicken in the crock pot and it made all this nice stock in the bottom, so I poured that into the soup pot.  I hate to see anything go to waste.  After it chilled, I scraped off the solid fats.  Sure that won't make it vegan or vegetarian (but neither did the box of free range, organic chicken stock).  I'm OK with that.  You'll make your own modifications.

Nothing like following a recipe to the letter, eh?

I like it.  It's different, it's light, it fills me up.