almost-instant chicken noodle soup
2 min readPicture this familiar scene: you have just arrived home after a long day and you are so ravenous that the mere thought of lifting a finger to raw ingredients instantly saps what little remains in your energy reserves. So you reach into the back of the cupboard for a crushed packet of instant noodles, or perhaps you start dreaming of takeaways… but wait! These almost-instant noodles are brilliant home-cooked- option: nutritious, tasty,cost- -effective and very much in the spirit of throw it together.
Serves 1 chicken breast, thinly sliced 4% tsp salt 2 pinches ground white pepper 12 tsp cornflour 14 tsp bicarbonate of soda 1 tsp vegetable oil 2 slices ginger, cut into matchsticks 65g dried egg noodles or 1 instant noodle nest 150g choi sum, pak choi or Chinese leaf cabbage, roughly chopped tsp chillisauce, to serve 1 Stir the chicken, salt, pepper, cornflour, bicarbonate of soda and 2 teaspoons water together in a small bowl.
2 Heat the oil in saucepan over a medium heat, add the ginger and allow it to sizzle for 30 seconds before adding the chicken. Brown the chicken for 1 minute, then add 350ml boiling water.Cover immediately and keep the broth cooking on a gentle rolling boil for 4-5 minutes.
3 Pop the noodles into the stock, and as soon as they can be loosened with a pair of chopsticks(before they are completely soft), add the choi sum. Reduce the heat to low and simmer until the noodles are al dente and the choi sum has wilted. Serve in a large bowl with a dollop of chilli sauce.
