Chicken Noodle Soup.

“Ahhh, what you need is some chicken noodle soup.”. “Chicken noodle soup will sort you out.”. “Chicken broth is what you need.”. So went the advice from various ‘clucking hens’ (well meaning people) while I spent a week in bed, festering with a chest infection. Unfortunately, when one is bed-bound and feeling rotten, the desire to make this elixir of life tends to be absent. So, given that I’m feeling better and am in no need of it, here’s a straightforward recipe for Chicken Noodle Soup.

Now, if you are used to the packet variety of Chicken Noodle Soup, I recommend you get a chicken stock cube, a tablespoon or two of salt and a packet of pot noodles. Add a litre of hot water and enjoy. This will taste particularly good to you.

If, perhaps you want to move your game further up the food chain, follow my simple and easy recipe. You may even live a little longer too.

Ingredients for my chicken noodle soup

• 1.5 litres of good quality chicken stock
• 4 free range boneless, skinless chicken thighs
• Two servings of udon noodles
• 3 cm piece of ginger
• 3 cloves of garlic
• 3 spring onions
• 6 dried Chinese mushrooms
• A head of bok choi
• A green and a red chili
• Chili oil for dressing and a little extra heat
• Salt and pepper to season
  

  Not a lot of ingredients but lots of flavour.

I spent a lot of time thinking about this dish while I lay prostrate, looking at the ceiling. First I put the noodles into boiling water to reconstitute them.

If I had breathed in the steam, maybe I would have recovered sooner.

I added some hot water to the mushrooms to bring them back to life too.

It was a pity I could not get myself reconstituted so easily.

Next, followed a lot of chopping. I sliced the ingredients up. The ginger and garlic needs to be sliced very small. The spring onions need to be sliced across the grain to give them a nice shape.

Slicing this way gives a longer spring onion.

I then sliced the chicken into pieces about the same size as the spring onions. The Mushrooms got the same treatment too. I warmed the stock in a saucepan. I added the ginger and garlic then added the sliced chicken.

Lots of chicken needed for chicken noodle soup.

I simmered the chicken for about ten minutes, to ensure it was cooked. I then added in the soy sauce, the spring onions and the mushrooms.

The noodles are already cooked and only need to be warmed.

The noodles went in next. These were warmed through.

This soup is very, very tasty even before the addition of bok choi.

I then added a layer of chopped bok choi. This will prevent me getting sick again.

The bok choi turns a vibrant green. Lovely.

Just like I had previously, this wilted on it’s own. I then tasted, seasoned and served this delicious soup.

Don’t wait to get sick before making it!

This is a really tasty, wholesome and healthy soup. The stock was home made and that is the basis of any good soup. Try it and I suspect it will ward off any potential colds and flu. Even if it doesn’t, it will make you feel better about yourself.