Asian Inspired Chicken and Mushroom Noodle Soup

This dish is one of my go-to dishes when I'm feeling the pinch. The majority of the ingredients are ones that keep in your cupboard for a long time, and so I usually just need to pick up a bit of veg, a lime and (if I'm feeling rich) some chicken and I can knock something tasty up in minutes at minimum cost.

I was hesitant about posting this, as if you have to buy all the ingredients new then it will be on the expensive side. But, if you're like me and you cook a lot of east-Asian food, then you should already have a lot of this to hand.

When it comes to the veg, protein and noodles it's all up to your own tastes. Mushrooms are so cheap and yummy and so I like to use them, but add in some beansprouts (50p a pack) at the last minute for a nice crunch, or a bit of sweetcorn from a tin (30p) can be a nice addition too. You can use chicken, prawns, steak, quorn pieces or pork, whatever you have. This is basically something you can throw together with any Asiany leftovers.

I have done the recipe for 1 person as I was just cooking for myself, but simply multiply away to however many people you're cooking for.

So, enough babble, here is my basic recipe.

I've separated the necessary ingredients from the ones you can miss out if you need to save or don't have them already.

Feeds 1.

Cooking time: 20-30 minutes

Necessary Ingredients

1 - 2 Boneless, Skinless Chicken Thighs (£1.16 for 2)

300ml Vegetable or Chicken Stock (2 tsp bouillon 2p)

1/2 - 1 tbsp Soy Sauce (5p)

1/2 - 1 tbsp Sweet Chili Sauce (or 1/2 tsp of dried chili flakes and 2 tsp sugar) (5p)

1/2 Lime (15p)

1 Portobello Mushroom (or 2 - 3 normal mushrooms) (20p)

3 - 4 Spring Onions (30p)

60g Flat Rice Noodles (20p)

Total just necessary: £2.13

Ingredients you could miss out

2tsp Chinese 5-spice (or equal quantities of cinnamon, cumin and coriander) (5p)

A sprinkling of Sesame seeds (3p)

1/2 tsp Thai Fish Sauce (3p)

A Small Thumb of Root Ginger, finely grated (5p)

1 Clove of Garlic, crushed (3p)

Small bunch of coriander leaves (40p)

Total with everything: £2.72

Recipe

1) Start by boiling a litre of water. Use 300mls of this for your stock cube and the remaining water to boil the rice noodles in a pan on the stove. 

2) Coat the chicken in the 5-spice, if you don't have 5-spice you can coat it in an equal mix of cinnamon, cumin and coriander, or just miss the coating out all together. Heat a frying pan with a little oil and then fry the chicken until just cooked through (about 4-5 minutes on each side for a flattened out chicken thigh).

3) Whilst the chicken is frying, heat a little oil in a saucepan and fry the garlic and ginger for 1 minute. Pour in the stock and bring to the boil. Add the soy sauce, sweet chili and fish sauce. Taste and then add more to balance out the flavours if needed.

4) Slice the mushroom into bite size slices and add to the broth. Once the chicken is cooked through, transfer to a chopping board, sprinkle with the sesame seeds and slice into 1cm slices. 

5) Drain the rice noodles, and place in the bowl you'll be eating from. Pour the broth over the noodles and then place the chicken on top. Slice the spring onions into thin circles, chop up the coriander leaves and sprinkle both on top of the noodles. Slice the lime and squeeze it over.

Eat and wonder at the deliciousness!

SG x