Speedy Chicken Soup Noodles

Now that Christmas and New Year celebrations are over, most of us are back to work. I am not joining work as yet. With my hands full at home with the little one, I hardly get time to do anything else really. I guess that’s what is making me think of all the shortcuts I can make in the kitchen and try and cook speedy one pot meals which are ready in least amount of time yet tastes good.

I try to keep some cooked meat in my fridge most of the time, they are such a life saver when you need some easy meal to be prepared. You can either buy them in the supermarkets or could be the left-over meat from last night’s supper. I had some store bought cooked chicken in my fridge which I have used to make this easy-peasy soup noodles. I made this up on the go so the measurements are really up to you. I used Lee Kum Kee brand spicy chilli-bean paste for this dish. This magic ingredient is available in most Asian food stores and truly transforms this noodle soup. You can adjust the quantity of chilli bean paste based on your tolerance/preference to hot and spicy food. 

Ingredients:

200 gm thick noodles (udon or soba)

100 gm cooked chicken (sliced into small pieces)

1 and 1/2 cube of vegetable stock powder

Spicy chilli bean paste (to your taste, I added 2 heaped teaspoon)

400 ml boiling water for the soup

1 onion chopped

1 capsicum thinly sliced

3 Chestnut mushroom thinly sliced

Oil for frying

Method:

Heat the oil in a pan and start frying the onions till they turn golden. Now add the chopped capsicum and mushroom to it and continue frying. Meanwhile in a sauce pan pour boiling water and cook the noodles according to the instructions on the pack. In a bowl pour the 400 ml boiling water and make the stock by dissolving the stock cube. Add the cooked chicken in to the onion and capsicum mix and stir well. Cook for a minute or so then add the chilli bean paste to it. Now add the stock into it and mix it well. Bring it to boil and cook for a minute or so then add the noodles and take it off the heat. Serve hot.

I garnished the soup with fresh coriander leaves.