Crossing-the-bridge noodles

Description

Over the bridge rice noodles (guo qiao mi xian) is a rice noodle soup, a specialty of Yunnan cuisine. When broken into segments, the soup consists of chicken soup, rice noodles, sliced meat, and vegetables, as well as some additional ingredients used for garnishing and seasoning. The dish originated from Mengzi County over 100 years ago. What's peculiar about this soup is the way in which it is prepared; a bowl of hot soup, a bowl of rice noodles, and a platter with sliced ingredients are brought to the table where the dish is assembled and cooked. Ingredients are added one by one, starting with meat. Next are quail eggs, squid, and tofu skin, followed by vegetables, often only bok choy, Chinese mushrooms, and herbs. Rice noodles are saved for the end, and the finished soup gets divided into individual bowls. Given that the soup can be somewhat bland, the taste can be adjusted to personal preference with soy sauce, vinegar, pickled vegetables, and chili sauce. The rice noodle soup is often served in restaurants and sold by street vendors, but the price is determined by the number of ingredients - the more, the pricier.