HOT & SOUR SOUP

Now here's a fabulous way to use up your leftover chicken.
This quick HOT & SOUR NOODLE SOUP was  so delicious we'll be making it again soon. It's not difficult to make, and if you don't have all the ingredients, try substituting.
Why not try different versions? Instead of chicken, you could use more vegetables, beef or prawns. Buying a packet of stir fry vegetables is the cheapest option. Use the supermarket deli - purchase a couple of slices of rare roast beef - slice and add to the soup.
After looking through various recipes, we came up with a version that suited what we had in the cupboards. We estimate this soup somewhere around 200 calories. A very warm and inviting lunch or starter, worth giving this one a try if you can. Will we be making this again? Yes! Here's how we made it:

SOUP - SERVES TWO

Ingredients

1 tbsp vegetable oil

2.5cm fresh ginger cut into four thick disks

4 large chestnut mushrooms

1 red chilli (seeds removed and thinly sliced)

600ml chicken stock (see our TIP below)

tinned bamboo shoots (we used about 50g)

1 tbsp rice wine or Saki

2 tbsp rice wine vinegar
1 tbsp each of light and dark soy sauce 

1 stick of lemon grass - if you have one

a few finely chopped pieces of coriander

For the bowl

Ingredients

70g flat rice noodles

Large handful of bean sprouts

half chopped spring onion

any additional vegetables you may like e.g. sweetcorn, mange tout etc

shredded, cooked chicken wings/thighs (approx 50g per portion)

coriander to decorate
a lime if you have one (we didn't)

****
Cut the ginger into 4 large chunks - these will then be easier to remove from the soup before serving.

Put the oil into a large frying pan or wok and fry the ginger, sliced mushrooms and chilli for 3-4 minutes. Add this to the saucepan with the stock.

Bruise the lemon grass stalk by bashing with a knife. Add to the stock along with the rest of the soup ingredients. Boil, then simmer for around 15 minutes.

Cook the flat rice noodle according to the instructions and allow to cool. 

Place noodles into a deep bowl, along with the bean sprouts, spring onion, any other vegetables and the shredded chicken.

REMOVE the lemongrass and ginger from the soup before serving. 

Pour the boiling soup onto the bowl ingredients and stir. Allow a minute or two for everything to heat through.

Taste and add salt/pepper if you feel it needs it. We thought a bit of lime wouldn't go amiss, but after scouring our fridge we were a bit annoyed to find we didn't have one to experiment with.

TIP: If you don't have chicken stock you can always grab a couple of chicken legs and throw into a pot. Cover with water and a few stock vegetables if you have any. Boil then simmer until chicken is cooked. This will give you the chicken for the soup, along with a fab stock. 

****

REMEMBER:  - Do you know how many calories you are allowed each day?

Here's a link to our very first blog post about our weight loss journey, which we began in January 2011. We started this blog as a way of recording what we ate while losing weight. The blog is a food diary, and contains lots of recipes, tips and ideas about losing weight.

You'll find our WEIGHT LOSS PLAN here. 

Copyright © forget dieting forever (2014), all rights reserved. Please do not copy any of this material without my express permission.