Tofu & Pak Choi Noodle Soup

The level of domestic craziness was pretty high tonight as I cooked this, so it's all from memory and the weights are guessed. At least I remembered to take photo. So - noodle soup - spectacularly easy dinner to do, dead popular with the kiddies, practically makes itself. You'll note there are no chillies in the recipe, this is because my loved ones, unlike me, aren't up for a bit of firey fun so if you decide to make this ADD CHILLIES! Yum.

Ingredients:


One small onion
100g carrots, sliced into thin, 5cm batons
200g shitake mushrooms, thinly sliced
150g cubed, deep fried tofu
200g pak choi
300g wheat noodles
750cl vegetable stock
One can coconut milk
1 tbsp vegetable oil
2 tbsp coriander
3 cloves garlic
3 tsp fresh root ginger
3 tsp soya sauce
1 tsp sesame oil
Juice of one lime
2 tsp sugar or mirin
1 tsp rice wine vinegar

Method:

Right, once you've started cooking this it goes like the clappers, so try and prep all the ingredients beforehand if you can. First of all, I'd soften up the noodles in boiling water for three minutes and then rinse and let to stand in COLD water while the rest gets done.

If you've got a blender, it works well if you blend the coriander, garlic, root ginger, soya sauce, sesame oil, lime juice, mirin (or sugar) and rice wine vinegar beforehand too. If you've no blender don't worry - just finely chop or mince them all, mix in a bowl and retain to add at the right moment.

So with noodles softened and the sauce mix prepared, start off by frying the onions, in a large wok, in the vegetable oil. Once they've gone translucent and are on the edge of browning, add the carrot batons. When the carrots are softening, add the tofu and then, after a minute or so, the mushrooms. Let the mix cook for 5 minutes, stirring occasionally. Then add the sauce mix, and cook for a further five minutes.

Now add the vegetable stock and coconut milk, and bring to a gentle simmer. At this point add the softened noodles and stir through well. All done.

To serve: 

Some more fresh coriander is dead nice now, and if you're feeling dead posh, some sesame seeds sprinkled over the top looks rather swanky. Have some soya sauce to hand in case you want some more and, don't forget - add some chillies!