Asian noodle broth: the realistic 15 minute meal

Following on from yesterday's post, I made Asian noodle broth for the neighbour. By adding Asian flavours (soy sauce, oyster sauce, etc...) you can transform a normal noodle soup into an amazingly tasty meal that is very filling.

Leave the dry noodles in boiling water to cook in the heat (read the packet if it comes with one). In a big pot, add sliced carrot, onion and mushroom and fry slightly in sesame oil (but not very long as you want to veg still slightly crunchy). A good tip here would be to slice all the vegetables and get all your ingredients out ready to go and within reach.

Add the noodles to the slightly fried veg along with a stock cube (veg or meat depending on the people eating), then add soy sauce, oyster sauce, few spoons of sugar, salt (not much as the sauces have salt in), fish sauce, chilli flakes and anything else you think would go well. You'll probably have to add a bit more water from the kettle as the water from the noodles probably won't be enough. Add as much water as you like (depending on how watery you want it to be) and simmer with some sliced meat/tofu and finely sliced coriander roots for a couple of minutes.

Remember to try some of the broth and add more soy/sugar if it needs it. Good cooks always try their food before serving! Serve with a sprinkle of coriander leaves and a trickle of soy. A squidge of lime would go well here too if you fancy it.

This meal can easily be done in 15 minutes - it's so easy and tasty. Even better is that it's comforting and to get a light broth to be comforting is a great thing indeed!

Make sure the veg are nice and crunchy to keep that freshness. I've even got some left for my lunch at work today. Can't wait for midday food time.

So dive into your cupboards today to transform your usual meals into something you'd find on the other side of the world. Tasty food for hardly any extra calories.

Get experimenting!

(11 days until Australia!)

ZP x

Mexican wraps: healthy-style with salsa and guacamole

So, another meal with the neighbour, and this time it’s hand rolled lettuce Mexican style wraps. Replacing tortilla wraps with lettuce or cabbage is a great, healthy alternative (I'll be hitting Bondi beach soon so trying to stay low on the carbs!)

Frying the beef mince off (I had some left over from a spag bol), I mixed in fennel seeds, cinnamon, cumin, coriander seeds, mustard seeds, chili flakes and onion seeds, along with diced onion and carrot to use them up. It was like dry spicy spag bol mix – which is what I wanted. I made up bowls of tomato salsa (recipe is here); guacamole (mashed avocado, juice of 2 limes, a pinch of salt, pepper, and sugar); sour cream; and cheese, then we wrapped it all up in one iceberg lettuce wrap.

We kept going until the lettuce had gone…yum. There was even some mince left to give to Dad for his jacket potato dinner.

Tonight, I'm cooking Asian noodle broth for Gabi, it's going to be a thinly sliced vegetables and pork with stock and some Asian flavours. Healthy, clean eating is the way to go until back from holiday!

I also made thai glass noodles the other day (little pic shown below) with rendang curry paste, coconut milk, sliced beef, fish sauce, mushrooms, peppers, and some other bits. The paste is normally meant to make curry but I only had beef slices and some spare noodles and veg so I made my own little concoction. Using spices is a great way to infuse flavour into food without all the calories.

ZP x