Chinese-Style Chicken Noodle Soup Version 2

I love chicken noodle soups – there are so many different varieties. This is the second version (see the first one) of my chicken noodle soup.

Making the stock

I use (for two large bowls of soup):

1. 1 whole chicken breast, with skin on
2. 3 cross slices of ginger
3. 4 fresh coriander stems and roots
4. 2 garlic cloves, crushed
5. 1 tsp black pepper corns
6. 2 spring onions
7. 1/2 tsp of rock salt

Place all the ingredients in a medium saucepan and cover them with a litre of filtered water. I prefer filtered water as I don’t like the icky chlorine smell in tap water. Also we live in a unit that’s about 100 years old, I have no idea how old the plumbing is!

Bring the stock to boil and turn the heat right down to simmer. This way you are very slowly cooking the chicken breast. Because we’re using chicken breast, which does tend to dry out, it’s very important that we cook the chicken as slowly as possible so we’ll end up with beautiful, silky chicken rather than dry and horribly tough chicken. If you decide to use another cut, thigh fillet, for example, you can cook it at higher heat but it tends to make the chicken stock a bit too fatty for my liking. Josh doesn’t like fatty cuts of meat (whereas I’m a big fan. We are basically The Sprats here.)

Leave the stock to simmer at very low heat for about 20 minutes. Meanwhile, we need to prepare the trimmings.

I use (for the two of us):

1. 1/2 kg of fresh rice noodles
2. 3 spring onions, finely chopped
3. 2 tbsp of chopped coriander leaves
4. 2 tsp of fried shallots (I don’t have it today but you can buy them pre-made)

Once the chicken is cooked through, fish it out and let it cool. I usually don’t and suffer ouchie scalded fingers afterwards. Leave the stock on the simmer. Shred the chicken into bite-sized pieces and marinade them in:

1. 3 tbsp of light soy sauce
2. 1 tbsp of specialty soy sauce*
3. 1/2 tsp sugar
4. 1 tsp sesame oil
5. pinch of salt and pepper
6. 4 tbsp of chicken stock

Blanch a bok choy for each person in the boiling stock for about a minute. Blanch the rice noodles in a lot of hot water or according to packet instructions. Place them in a bowl, followed by the bok choy. Top with the chicken and a couple of tablespoons of the marinade. Sprinkle with the chopped spring onions, corianders and fried shallots (if you’re using).

Turn the heat up on the stock until it’s boiling. Pour the boiling stock over a strainer onto the noodles. It’s important that the stock is boiling, otherwise you’ll find that once you pour it on top of other ingredients, the soup won’t be hot enough.

If you’re a vegetarian, my friend Mat has a suggestion on how to make a vegetarian chicken noodle soup for when you’re sick:

1. Boil water, paying careful attention to sending healing vibes throughout the water.
2. The end.

* By specialty soy sauce, I mean flavoured soy sauces such as mushroom-flavoured soy sauce,  seafood seasoning soy sauce. , etc. If you don’t have it, just use normal light soy sauce.