How to build a Chinese noodle soup — a Fuchsia Dunlop recipe

Chinese noodle soups are the perfect vehicle for a little culinary creativity: quick and easy to make yet extremely exciting. The two essential ingredients are a decent stock and, obviously, noodles. I tend to make batches of chicken or chicken and pork stock and box them up for the freezer; you can also use fish stock, or one made from lamb or beef, the latter both staples of halal noodle shops in China. The noodles can be fresh or dried; classic wheat noodles or those made from buckwheat, rice or other grains. I always keep supplies of dried wheat and buckwheat noodles to hand, and snap up fresh wheat noodles whenever I find them in a Chinese supermarket, stashing them in portions in my freezer. Beyond these essentials, freedom to play and experiment is yours.

For a main meal, top your noodle soup with any source of protein you fancy: a fried egg, perhaps, a few slices of leftover roast meat, the remains of takeaway roast duck or cha siu pork, a spoonful of last night’s stewed beef, fried mushrooms, some tofu. The topping doesn’t have to be Chinese. I often make noodle soups with the leftovers of Christmas dinner or Italian ragù. A few green leaves are both healthy and beautiful: spinach, lettuce, choy sum or pak choy and broccoli florets are all good options.

Finely sliced spring onion greens make a perky garnish, but you can turn instead to coriander, chives, celery leaves or maybe mint. Finally, you can pimp your noodles with pickles or any kind of chilli: fresh chilli, pickled chilli, chilli sauce or Laoganma spicy black bean relish. I usually serve these separately, in little dipping dishes, and add them to taste as I eat. Think of this recipe as a template for your own imagination.

Chinese noodle soup

Serves one

1. Place the salt, pepper and fat in a deep serving bowl. Bring the stock to a boil and keep hot.

2. Bring a pan of water to a boil. Add the choy sum leaves; when wilted, remove with a strainer, refresh under the cold tap and set aside.

3. In the same pan, boil the noodles to your liking. When they are nearly done, pour the hot stock over the seasonings in the serving bowl.

4. Strain the noodles and place them gently in the stock. Top with the sliced duck, blanched leaves and sliced spring onions. Serve with your choice of condiments.

Fuchsia Dunlop is a cook and the author of “The Food of Sichuan”

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