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 chickent, 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.