Hot and sour chicken and pineapple soup with rice noodles — a Ravinder Bhogal recipe

This winter crept up on me so slowly that I barely saw it coming. One day the trees were alight, a vivid canopy of golden flames, and the next time I looked up from my kitchen window, they were naked and skeletal. With spring scarcely on the horizon, the slow crawl of frozen February is enough to give even the cheeriest soul the blues.

But one of the best things for lifting spirits is a deep bowl of steaming, restorative soup — perfect for warming the places your woolly jumper can’t reach. In November, I love the cosiness and romance of a creamy European soup sipped from a mug beside the fire, but in winter’s icy tundra I need something with greater intensity — something gutsy, textured and sustaining that demands a fork or chopsticks to eat. I need a revitalising broth from Asia.

These elixirs are sunny with turmeric, and perfumed with fresh lemongrass, ginger and lime leaves. They imbue my senses with life and excite my jaded palate with a knockout clash of hot, sweet and sour. I also relish the bouncy pleasure of slurpable noodles.

Pineapple may seem like a strange addition, but it lends an interesting — and essential — sweet‑sourness much like a lime or tamarind would. It also contains the enzyme bromelain, which fights inflammatory infections such as sore throats; it’s like a cough syrup without the bitter taste.

Create a large batch of paste and freeze it so you can make the soup easily whenever you wish. It will see you through the bleakest days before spring.

Hot and sour chicken and pineapple soup with rice noodles

Serves four

1. Put the ingredients for the paste into a food processor and blend until smooth. Transfer to a large saucepan, add hot stock and bring to a boil over a high heat. Reduce heat and simmer for 20 minutes. Strain into a clean pan, discard solids and return to a low heat.

2. Cook noodles according to packet instructions. Drain and divide among serving bowls.

3. Add chicken, pineapple chunks, fish sauce, lime juice and sugar to the broth. Simmer until the chicken is warmed through. Adjust seasoning if necessary — the soup should taste hot, sour, spicy and salty.

4. Ladle soup over noodles and serve scattered with coriander and chilli.

Ravinder Bhogal is chef-patron of Jikoni. Follow Ravinder on Instagram @cookinboots and Twitter @cookinboots

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