Geri’s Sopas
Filipino Sopas
One of our favorite Filipino spots in Portland is Baon Kainan. It is a food cart in the Concourse Coffee pod together with Matta and No Q No! Taqueria. It is owned by Geri and Ethan Leung, originally Seattle natives who popped up with Matta a few times last year and made a go of it in Portland. In their first year, they won cart of the year which helped establish them and Filipino food in the Portland food scene. Their food is fresh and cart made and you feel the love. When we were thinking of potential contributors for Filipino Food Month, we reached out to Baon Kainan and Geri quickly replied about wanting to share her Sopas recipe. It’s a perfect dish for Portland with our weather that can turn chilly at a drop of a hat.
Sopas is a homestyle Filipino noodle soup generally made with macaroni, vegetables and chicken in a creamy, milky broth often made with stock and milk (in the Philippines, evaporated milk). There are many variations to this dish, predominantly in what protein is used. Aside from chicken, sometimes it’s ground pork, corned beef and hot dogs (or a combination of), that is almost customized by family.
As Geri describes:
“This is one of our favorite Filipino soup recipes. It’s a dish we come back to anytime we need some comfort in a pinch or when we’re feeling under the weather. It’s fast to make, allows the use of leftover ingredients, it’s great the next day and essential when feeling under the weather.”
Some notes and tips from Geri:
Using rotisserie chicken and bouillon may seem like cheating, but there’s no harm in using these ingredients as a fast way to cook a delicious and nutritious meal–great for busy professionals, parents–well, everyone!
If you want to make your own chicken stock–and you have some time–roast chicken bones (or the rotisserie chicken bones) with onions, garlic, and any herbs of your choice for 20 - 30 minutes. Then add the roasted bones and veggies in water and boil for a couple of hours. Strain the broth and discard the bones and veggies.
You can use whatever milk for this recipe–we used oat milk for this recipe.
This meal is meant to be easy so versatility is welcome–use whatever veggies or protein you have left over.
Make this soup vegetarian or even vegan by substituting a plant-based milk and using vegan/vegetarian meat alternatives.
Geri learned how to make Sopas from her mom. This dish was one of her most comforting dishes and she could make it in a pinch without compromising taste. Geri would then make this for Ethan during their dating years so it’s got sentimental value on all counts. Eat it with some steamed rice, it’s comfort food in a bowl.
♥️ Team Tikim
INGREDIENTS
1 cup Onion, diced
1 cup Celery, diced
1 cup Carrot, diced
1 cup Hot Dog, sliced
2 cups Rotisserie Chicken, deboned and meat shredded*
½ cup Uncooked Macaroni
2 cups Cabbage, sliced
6 cups Water*
3 tsp Chicken Bouillon*
1 cup Milk*
1 tbsp Neutral Oil
¼ tsp Salt
¼ tsp Pepper
¼ tsp Dried Sage or 1 Bay Leaf
1 tbsp Soy Sauce (low sodium)
Fish Sauce, to taste
NOTE: This recipe serves 3-4 people.
*ROTISSERIE CHICKEN - This is a quick and easy solution. You can also cook your choice of boneless, skinless chicken breast or thighs in aromatics and dice. This also creates chicken stock you can use for the recipe.
*WATER - at its simplest, water can be used as the liquid for the soup but if you have chicken stock, it can also be used as the liquid. If you use stock, you can skip the chicken bouillon.
*CHICKEN BOUILLON - Geri uses BETTER THAN BOUILLON Brand which we linked above.
*MILK - You can use your milk of choice, Geri uses Oat Milk in her Sopas.
METHOD
STEP 1
SAUTÉ THE VEGETABLES.
In a large stock pot sauté the onions, celery and carrots in oil for 2 - 3 minutes on medium-high heat. Add the salt to sweat the vegetables and build on their flavors.
STEP 2
SEASON & ADD THE HOT DOGS.
Add pepper, sage or bay leaf. Add the sliced hot dogs and continue to cook for about 5 minutes, stirring often.
STEP 3
ADD THE LIQUID.
Add the water and bouillon or stock and bring to a boil.
TIP: Adding warm water or heated stock makes the process even quicker.
STEP 4
ADD THE PASTA.
When soup comes to a boil add the macaroni. Continue to cook according to the package directions.
STEP 5
ADD THE PROTEIN.
A few minutes before the macaroni is set to be done, add the cabbage and shredded chicken.
STEP 6
ADD THE MILK.
Cook for another 5 minutes and add the milk. Cook for another few minutes and then season to taste with soy sauce.
STEP 7
CHECK SEASONING.
Once the macaroni is cooked, season further with soy sauce or fish sauce.
STEP 8
SERVE THE SOPAS.
Serve hot in individual bowls with steamed rice and enjoy!