Spicy Shrimp Noodle Soup

This was very easy and had great flavor. My grocery store has stopped selling fresh sprouts for fear of bacterial contamination - so I missed the sprouts. The fresh basil, cilantro, green onions and lime were crucial to the success of this recipe. Don't pass them up. I know my heat tolerance and a tablespoon of the olek sambal would be tooo hot. Try a teaspoon and add more if you like. I subbed chicken stock for beef. Will definitely make again!

Interesting combination of flavors. Not sure I like the beef broth with the shrimp, but love the cilantro, green onion & sprouts accoutrements! DH really enjoyed! I used fennel b/c I was told by produce guy at grocery store that was star anise was. Learned later that was wrong. Star anise looks like its name; a star, not a furry stalk! Diced 1/2 the fennel bulb up and seemed to turn out fine.

Good soup. Definitely add the fresh mushrooms. Per other commenter's suggestedion, added Hoisin sauce & Sriracha sauce as a condiment--hoisin was good but the sriracha made it too hot for our taste.

This was yummy, spicy, and yummy. I did make some adjustments based on what I had on hand...substituted a tsp. of soy sauce and a 1/3 tsp. of anchovy paste in place of fish sauce, 8oz of clam base instead of clam juice, 1/2 tsp anise seed instead of star anise, left out the bean sprouts and added 5oz of fresh enoki mushrooms with the dried shiitakes. Great warm soup for a cold winter night!

I made this recipe the other night. My husband and I really liked it. It had great flavor. The only change I would make to the recipe is to use fresh mushrooms. The dried shiitake's did not add much to the taste of the soup. I added lime juice and extra crushed cilantro leaves which intensified the Asian flavor even more.

This was AWESOME! However... I used a generous teaspoon instead of a tablespoon of the sambal oelek and it was still almost too spicy for me. I used .7 oz of dried mushrooms (because they were on hand) and in addition put a very generous cup of fresh shiitakes. I think you need both dried and fresh to maximize flavor. Also, the next time I make this I will put the cinnamon, garlic and anise in a cheesecloth cache to make it easier to remove them. I would definitely make this for company.

My husband & I really enjoyed this soup tonight. It was a cold, rainy night, so it was a perfect night for soup. I couldn't find star anise at the grocery store, so I left it out, but other than that, I made it as written. It was so easy to put together - definitely not labor intensive as one reviewer stated. For condiments, in addition to the bean sprouts, lime wedges, cilantro & basil, I added sliced jalapeños, hoisin sauce & Sriracha Sauce, since those are also the condiments used at our local Vietnamese restaurant. My husband told me he liked this soup as much as his favorite beef pho soup at the restaurant, and for him that was saying a lot! This will definitely be on my list of recipes to make again!

I loved this soup!!!! I used chicken broth instead of beef broth & fresh mushrooms. I think you could use regular button mushrooms instead. I omitted the star anise (couldn't find any) and the fish sauce (forgot to buy it.) It turned out delicious!!! Definitely a keeper!

The soup was pretty labor intensive. Taste was good but not exceptional. Probably wouldn't make again. Lacked flavor.

This soup was very good. The broth was so flavorful and just had the right amount of spice. The only thing I would suggest is to break up the rice noodles to make the soup more spoon friendly.