Poached Chicken and Noodle Broth
Serves: 2
Time: 30 mins
In wintertime, noodle soup is one of my favourite fast food Asian dishes. Most of them tend to come with a massive mountain of rice noodles and not so much in the veg department but the soup is always the best part. I am going to use some of my chicken broth that I have stored up in the freezer, but when I don’t have the supply I will do a quick cheat and use a store bought option of stock instead.
Leftovers
Leftovers is just a veggie noodle mix up, which can be good either hot or cold. Spice it up a little with some hot sauce or my go-to at the moment which is the chiu chou.
What you'll need
1 packet of buckwheat soba noodles
1 large chicken breast skin off
1 brown onion
1 small piece of ginger
3 cloves of garlic
2 carrots
1 bunch of bok choy
2 bunches of broccolinni
1 packet of asian mushrooms any kind (I have used beech but shitake would work great)
200g sugar snaps
1 litre chicken stock
want to make your own chicken broth? Check out the recipe here:
From the Pantry
1 teaspoon fish sauce
1 teaspoon soy sauce
Optional Extras for Veggo’s
1 x 250g block firm tofu
Feeding Four
I have added an xtra chicken breast, 1 bunch of bok choy, 1 carrot and 500ml of chicken stock to your list
Prep and Cook
Poach Chicken
Peel and finely slice onion and garlic, peel and grate ginger.
Place in a pot with the chicken stock, fish sauce and soy sauce and bring up to the boil.
Turn down to a simmer and add your chicken breast, cover and cook for 8 minutes. After 8 minutes, check the chicken - you can do this by lifting it out of the liquid and feeling how firm it is in the very centre. If it still soft then return to the liquid and continue to cook, checking every minute.
Once it has cooked the whole way through, remove the chicken from the pot and take the stock off the heat.
While the Chicken Cooks
Prep Veg
Put two medium sized pots of water on to boil with a pinch of salt.
Wash and slice bok choy in half.
Cut the stalk ends off your broccolinni.
Peel and finely slice carrot or use a julienne peeler.
Slice or rip apart mushrooms depending on your variety.
Only do this step once you are ready to plate
Drop the bok choy, broccolinni and sugar snaps into boiling water and cook for 1 minute, just long enough to bring out that deep rich green colour.
Cook Noodles
Drop your noodles into one pot of water and cook for 5 minutes, strain once cooked and toss in a touch of oil.
Plate it Pretty
In two large soup bowls start with your cooked noodles. To get that nice round nest look, take a fork and spin it in the noodles then lift up the noodles and cup your hands around the prong of the fork and gently spin in your hand until all the noodles are in a nice round nest.
Place in the bowl.
Slice chicken into thin pieces and seperate into each bowl, slightly fan it out.
Add 1/4 of the carrots to each.
Cook the veg and arrange tidly
Then fill in the remaining space with your mushrooms.
Bring the stock back up to the boil and check the seasoning, you may need a touch of salt.
Use a sieve to hold over the bowl as you you gently tip the broth over the veg (this will catch all the sediment from the chicken and the garlic and ginger.
Eat straight away.
Lunch tomorrow
Toss the remaining noodles with the rest of your veggies, some sesame oil and some black or white sesame seeds, then drizzle with chili oil.