Misua soup is a light, garlicky Filipino broth with ground pork, soft slices of patola (sponge gourd) and very thin misua wheat noodles that go in for the last minute or two. It is mild, a little salty from the fish sauce and the noodles, and on the table in about 30 minutes.
In Filipino it is miswa at patola, misua and sponge gourd. You need one pot, half a pound of ground pork and two ounces of noodles for four bowls.
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Recipe
Misua Soup (Filipino Miswa at Patola with Ground Pork)
Ingredients
Method
- Cut both ends off the patola, peel it thinly with a vegetable peeler and slice it crosswise about 1/4 inch thick.
- Heat the oil in a soup pot over medium heat. Add the onion and garlic and cook for 2 to 3 minutes, until the onion is soft.
- Add the ground pork and break it up with the back of a spoon. Cook until no pink is left and it is lightly browned, about 3 minutes. Add the fish sauce and cook for 1 to 2 minutes more.
- Pour in the water or broth and bring it to a boil, skimming off any scum. Lower the heat and simmer for about 10 minutes.
- Add the patola and cook for 3 to 5 minutes, until tender but still with a little bite.
- Add the misua and cook for 1 to 3 minutes, just until soft. Season with salt and pepper, top with green onion and serve right away.
What is misua?
Misua (also spelled miswa or mee sua) is a very thin, salted Chinese wheat noodle. Kawaling Pinoy describes it as made from wheat flour and eggs, and notes that the strands are so delicate they need only a minute or two of cooking.
It is sold dry in small bundles. Because the noodles are salted when they are made, a soup with misua needs less salt than you would think. Season at the end, not the start.
In the Philippines misua goes into soups more than anything else. This pork and patola version is the everyday one. It also turns up with sardines and egg as a quick weeknight meal, and next to other noodle soups like batchoy.
What type of noodles for misua soup?
Use misua: the thin, white, dry wheat noodles labelled misua, miswa or mee sua in an Asian grocery. Two ounces (about 55 g) serves four, and that is what two of the three recipes checked for this page use.
If you cannot find misua, Japanese somen is the swap Salu-Salo recommends. Both are fine wheat noodles that cook in a couple of minutes, so the method does not change. Taste a strand before you turn off the heat.
Do not use glass noodles (sotanghon) as a straight swap. They are starch noodles, not wheat, and they turn clear instead of milky white. They belong in a different soup, like chicken sotanghon.
What is patola, and what can I use instead?
Patola is sponge gourd, also called luffa or loofah. It is a long, ridged green gourd with soft, pale flesh that turns tender in broth and takes on the flavour of the pork.
Pick young, firm patola. Kawaling Pinoy points out that the gourd turns tough and fibrous as it matures. Peel it with a vegetable peeler, not a knife, so you take off the hard green skin without losing the flesh, then slice it crosswise about 1/4 inch thick.
How much patola is up to you. Kawaling Pinoy uses 3 medium gourds and Panlasang Pinoy uses 1, so the card gives that range. More patola makes it a vegetable soup. Less makes it a noodle soup.
No patola? Zucchini or chayote (sayote) are the substitutes Kawaling Pinoy suggests. Cook either one until it is tender but still holds its shape, the same test as for patola.
How much broth: soupy or thick?
Use 6 cups of liquid for a real soup. Salu-Salo uses 6 cups of chicken broth and Panlasang Pinoy uses 6 to 8 cups of water, so 6 cups is where two of the three sources meet.
Kawaling Pinoy uses only 2 cups of water. That gives a thick misua that is mostly noodles and gourd, closer to a side dish eaten with rice. Both are right. Decide what you want in the bowl.
Water is fine, because the pork, garlic and fish sauce make their own broth. Chicken broth gives a fuller soup. A store-bought broth is already salted, so go easy on the fish sauce until you have tasted it.
Ground pork or meatballs?
Ground pork crumbled straight into the pot is the quick version, and it is what this card makes. No shaping, no frying, nothing to fall apart.
The meatball version is called almondigas or bola-bola soup. Panlasang Pinoy mixes the pork with egg, onion and flour, pan-fries the meatballs, then simmers them in the broth for about 15 minutes before the patola and misua go in. Its card runs 50 minutes against 30 here. For another filled soup in the same family, look at pancit molo.
Ground chicken or chopped shrimp work instead of pork, and Kawaling Pinoy suggests both. Shrimp cooks fast, so add it with the patola, not before.
Misua soup, step by step
Trim, peel and slice the patola.- Soften the onion and garlic in the oil.
- Brown the pork, then add the fish sauce.
- Add the liquid, boil and skim, then simmer.
- Add the patola for 3 to 5 minutes.
- Add the misua last, season and serve.
Cook ground pork until no pink is left. The USDA safe internal temperature for ground pork is 160°F (71°C).
How to keep misua from going mushy
Add the noodles last and serve right away. Misua softens in 1 to 3 minutes, and after that it keeps drinking the broth until the bowl is more noodle than soup.
Break the bundle gently over the pot and stir once so the strands separate. Turn off the heat as soon as they are soft. If you are cooking ahead, keep the noodles out and add them when you reheat.
Storage and reheating
Misua soup is best the day it is cooked, because the noodles keep absorbing liquid. Kawaling Pinoy says to add water or broth when you reheat, then taste and season again.
Leftovers keep 3 to 4 days in a covered container in the fridge, which is the USDA guidance for cooked leftovers. Reheat until steaming hot. If you know there will be leftovers, cook the misua only for the bowls you are serving now.
What to serve with misua soup
Serve it hot, on its own or with steamed rice. Kawaling Pinoy pairs it with rice and fried fish or grilled meat, which turns a light soup into a full meal.
Chopped green onion on top is the usual finish. A spoon of toasted garlic, as in the photo, is optional and adds crunch. A small dish of fish sauce on the side lets everyone salt their own bowl. It sits well in a week of gentle soups next to tinola.
Questions people ask
What is misua made of?
Wheat flour. Misua is a thin salted wheat noodle, and Kawaling Pinoy describes it as made from wheat flour and eggs.
Is somen the same as misua?
No, but they are close. Both are very thin wheat noodles. Somen is Japanese, and it is the substitute Salu-Salo suggests when you cannot find misua.
Is miswa a glass noodle?
No. Miswa is made from wheat and turns soft and milky white. Glass noodles (sotanghon) are starch noodles that turn clear.
How long do you cook misua?
1 to 3 minutes, at the very end. Add it after the patola is tender and serve as soon as the noodles are soft.
Can I make misua soup without patola?
Yes. Use zucchini or chayote, or leave the vegetable out and keep the pork, broth and noodles. Salu-Salo makes it with no vegetable at all.
