All the comfort of traditional chicken noodle soup with an Asian twist

Ingredients:

• 2 stalks lemongrass (crush with the butt of the knife and chop into large pieces )
• ½  package rice noodles
• 1 thumb-size piece ginger (thinly sliced)
• 4-6 cups chicken broth
• 2-3 chicken thighs or 1-2 boneless chicken breasts (sliced into small pieces)
• 1 head broccoli (chopped to fit on a spoon)
• 1-2 cups bok choy/chinese cabbage (chopped to fit on a spoon)
• 1-2 carrots, sliced
• 2-3 Tbsp. fish sauce
• 2 Tbsp. soy sauce or tamari
• 1/2 can good-quality coconut milk
• roughly 1 cup fresh basil (roughly chopped) ~ optional garnish
• 1 small hot chilli (thinly sliced) ~ or chilli to taste

Preparation:

First, boil water and pour over the rice noodles and cover. Turn off the heat and allow the noodles to soak for 10 to 15 minutes or until just soft, then drain.

As the noodles are soaking, put chicken broth, lemongrass, ginger, and chicken slices into a soup pot. Bring to a boil then reduce heat to medium for 6 to 8 minutes. Add the carrots first, then the broccoli and finally the cabbage. Stir and then allow soup to simmer 2 more minutes. Then stir in coconut milk. Reduce heat to minimum. Add the chilli, fish sauce and soy sauce.

To serve, put a serving of noodles at the bottom of each bowl and pour several ladles of soup over the noodles. Sprinkle fresh basil over each bowl.

Tip: 450g cooked shrimp can be substituted for chicken

–Recipe by Stacey S.