Asian Soba Vegetable Noodle Soup

I bought soba noodles (soba is just the Japanese name for buckwheat) awhile back with the intention of making something new with them. At the same time I bought brown rice noodles which I am obsessed with and thus forgot all about the soba noodles. Well, yesterday I decided to use them. I had originally planned on using them in some sort of stir-fry like dish, but I was more in the mood for soup so I came up with this hardy (slightly spicy) soup.

I used this stir-fry sauce (soy sauce combined with oyster sauce and some other flavors) I found in the Asian section of Shaw's after deciding even low sodium soy sauce has way too much sodium (25% DV for 1 tablespoon!) and I'm happy to report that it is pretty tasty and worked well in my soup. While I love thick soups, when I make this again I will use less noodles and more veggies. They way I did it is was only really 25% broth which was okay by me really. And tonight it was even better as everything had absorbed/broken down more and the broth had turned into a nice sauce almost (photo was taken on day 1). Very tasty. If you keep the large amount of noodles, one bowl will probably leave you full and satisfied. All of the flavors worked well together and even though there wasn't that much broth, it was enough to make the noodles quite addicting without being over-powering at all. I was pretty impressed though with how tasty the noodles were just plain....and it's filling!

 Buckwheat doesn't have any gluten, but to make this gluten-free, be sure to buy noodles that are all buckwheat (many brands you see in the store will have flour in them as well).

Asian Soba (Buckwheat) Vegetable Noodle Soup
How I Did It:

6 oz Soba Noodles (use less if you want it more brothy)
1 onion, chopped
4 cloves garlic, diced
32 oz low sodium vegetable broth
3 carrots, chopped
3 parsnips, chopped
3 celery ribs, chopped
3 baby bok choy, roughly chopped
3 tbsp low sodium stir-fry sauce (not straight soy sauce)
1/2 tsp cayene
1/2 ground ginger

1. In a medium pot, bring 4 cups of water to a boil. Add in the noodles, and lower to medium. Stir occasionally. Once cooked (about 6-8 minutes usually), drain and rinse with cold water.

2. While the noodles are cooking, heat 2 tablespoons of water in a large pot and then add the onion and garlic.

3. Cook until softened and then pour in broth, carrots, parsnips, celery, sauce and spices. Stir and then cover and let simmer for about 10 minutes and then add in the bok choy and cover again for another 5 minutes.

4. Once the vegetables are almost how you want them, stir in the noodles. Cover again and let simmer for another 5 minutes or so.

5. Serve! Keep any leftovers in the fridge.