hot & sour chicken noodle soup

we eat asian-style noodle soup quite often, usually something based on a miso broth and something which is quick and easy to pull together after work. it’s a wonderful choice if you need something quick which has an obviously healthy feel to it. 

having recently run out of miso and other asian pastes (tom yam is a favourite of mine) and not had time to make it to china town to stock up, david and i tried this hot & sour chicken soup which was a waitrose recipe. the flavours were a bit insipid so we doubled up on a few ingredients and added the juice of a lime to accentuate the sourness. the result was pretty good and one we’ll revisit.

hot & sour chicken noodle soup (serves 2)

15g dried shiitake mushrooms

1 tbsp vegetable oil

1 chicken breast fillet, cut into thin slices

1 large red chilli, thinly sliced

1 heaped teaspoon grated ginger

1 litre chicken or vegetable stock (homemade chicken stock is preferable)

6-8 pak choi bulbs, leaves separated

100g straight to wok rice noodles

3 tablespoons soy sauce

1 tablespoon rice vinegar

1 tablespoon sesame oil

juice of a lime

1 tablespoon chopped coriander leaves

2-3 spring onions, sliced

pour boiling water over the shiitake mushrooms and leave to soak for 15 minutes then drain, reserving the liquid. heat the oil in a large pan, add the chicken, mushrooms, chilli and ginger and cook for 3–4 minutes until just coloured. make the mushroom liquid up to 1 litre with the stock, add to the pan and bring to the boil then simmer gently for 5 minutes until the chicken is cooked through and there is no pinkness.

add the pak choi and noodles and cook for a further 2-3 minutes until tender. mix together the soy sauce, vinegar and sesame oil and stir into the soup. add the lime juice and garnish with chopped the coriander and spring onions then serve.