Sometimes, we just can't brainstorm of anything to cook. Here is where pre-packed pastes come to the rescue! I am making prawn noodle soup today using prawn noodle paste that I brought from home, adding chicken thighs, bean sprouts, Kang Kung (water spinach, bought from Chinatown), boiled egg and tofu puffs.
At this moment, you might be wondering, where are the prawns in the prawn noodle? It is all about the spicy seafood flavour of the soup to be honest (which you get from the paste itself), so you can omit those prawns if you want to. Besides, fresh/frozen prawns in UK supermarkets are depressing, they shrink thrice the size when you cook them. Unless you go out of your way to buy fresh prawns from the wet market, don't bother really... In a nutshell, if you can't find any specific ingredients, just omit them or be creative and choose an alternative!
Recipe
Ingredients
1 pack of prawn noodle paste (I've attached the one I used below)
250g of bean sprouts
150g of water spinach
250g of chicken thighs
8-10 tofu puffs (I really love tofu puffs, the soak up all the juices in the soup)
2 eggs
Dried shallots (for garnish)
Rice noodles
Instructions
Instructions should be clear from the prawn noodle paste pack itself.
Cook the chicken in a pot of boiling water. Remove and shred chicken into strips. Set aside.
Soak rice noodles in boiling water, and set aside.
In a separate pot, boil eggs (timings depend on how hard-boiled you want your eggs to be).
Boil another pot of water and add prawn noodle paste. Add tofu puffs, bean sprouts, water spinach and rice noodles. Let it simmer for 3-5 minutes (not too long, as you want the vegetables to remain its crunch; also remember the rice noodles are half-cooked, so not too long either). Remove pot from heat.
Remove eggs from pot and soak under cold water. Peel eggs and slice into half.
Assemble dish. Add rice noodles, shredded chicken, rest of the soup with vegetables and eggs. Serve hot.
Have leftover soup or paste? Use it next time, don't waste!
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