It’s October (practically November)… wow! Where has time gone? Only two months to go til Christmas. Autumn is well and trully here, yay … best time of the year if you ask me. Temperatures this month have been surprisingly mild, but with the recent bout of rain the thermostat is finally beginning to fall to single digits. I wonder if that is any indication of what winter will be like. I hope not. Since moving here I have come to look forward to a full blown white winter … the snow snow snow on every surface kind. But before I go running off on a tangent about winter, let’s focus on the month at hand. Time for another Cooks’ Club Challenge and this time the theme is ’30 Minute Meals’.
When it comes to quick and easy meals my brain tends to wander off into the stir-fry section, but I didn’t want to do that this time. I did however stick to an Asian themed meal. Back in Melbourne, every time the seasons changed and it got colder we’d inevitably head on over to the Chinese dumpling shop for a hearty bowl of noodle soup and a plate of fried dumplings. Best budget meal ever!
Today I am making a simple yet flavourful broth to go with the flat rice noodles and dumplings. R. drove me out to a wholesale Asian store and we did go a little crazy. We bought € 20 worth noodles alone … all the different kinds: udon, flat rice stick noodles, egg noodles, wok noodles, instant noodles and rice vermicelli. On top of the huge noodle purchase we also bought various pre-made dumplings and fish balls. I had a brilliant time coz I love grocery shopping on any given day, but going to an Asian store gets me really excited. I guess you can take the girl out of Asia, but you can’t take Asia out of the girl. Asian food rocks anyway, so anyone should enjoy a bowlful of this yummy soup.
Ingredients:
- 2 litres chicken stock
- 200 g chicken breast, poached
- 1 tsp grated ginger
- 1 clove garlic, crushed
- 8 medium-sized black mushrooms
- 8 wontons or fish balls
- 1 package dry rice stick noodles
- ½ cup sliced spring onions
- sprigs of coriander or mint leaves
Soak noodles in warm water for 20 mins if using the dry ones. If you can get fresh rice noodles all the better.
Meanwhile get the stock going by bringing the liquid to the boil, and adding the ginger + garlic. Simmer for 5 mins then add the wontons, mushrooms and any additional condiments you desire. Sometimes I add fried tofu.
Remove the wontons, mushrooms and tofu and set them aside. Now strain the soup to remove the pieces of ginger and garlic. Add the noodles to the soup and simmer until the noodles are soft.
Place the cooked noodles into a serving bowl. Top with the chicken slices, tofu, wontons and mushrooms. Pour the hot soup over everything and garnish with chopped spring onions and a sprig of mint.
To be eaten accompanied by sliced chillies and soy sauce. Mmmmm!
~ Enjoy ~
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