quick & easy 5-ingredient kimchi miso udon noodle soup

Quick and easy 5-ingredient kimchi miso udon noodle soup.

Even though I'm all partnered up, I'm the kind of person who actually doesn't mind cooking for one. In fact, I love making noodle soup for one. It's just so uncomplicated. No need to worry about dividing the portions. I can eat my noodles straight from the saucepan, and cleaning up is a breeze. Happily, I still get the opportunity to cook for just myself every now and then, and when I do, I seize the chance to make myself a simple and delicious noodle soup.

This kimchi miso udon noodle soup is one of my latest creations. I love that the short list of ingredients is capable of producing so much flavour. If you ever feel tired or lazy but you're still in the mood for a home-cooked meal, try this one-pot five-ingredient noodle soup recipe that is quick and easy to make. The recipe is wonderfully versatile, too - feel free to adjust or even swap some of the ingredients to suit your taste.

Spicy, umami kimchi udon noodles in a miso broth.

quick & easy 5-ingredient kimchi miso udon noodle soup
(serves 1)

90g / 3oz dried udon noodles
50g / 2oz minced pork (or: minced chicken or cubed tofu)
1 small handful chopped Asian greens (or: mixed salad leaves)
6 pieces kimchi
1 tablespoon miso

Cook the noodles briefly in a saucepan of boiling water, just enough to release some starch from the noodles so that the water turns cloudy. Drain the noodles, rinse with cold water and drain again.
Pour 1 + 2/3 cups of water into the saucepan with the noodles. Bring the mixture to boil again, and add the minced meat. (Hold back if you're using tofu - add that only during the last minute of cooking.)
Allow the mixture to simmer until the noodles and the meat are done - or even just slightly underdone, as they will continue to cook in the hot broth. Stir in the greens, and remove the saucepan from heat.
Add the kimchi - you may chop them up into smaller pieces prior to adding them, if you wish, or leave them whole if you're lazy (like me).
Allow the noodle soup to cool slightly for a couple of minutes or so. Submerge the spoonful of miso just under the surface of the broth, and use a fork to gradually loosen up the miso and whisk it in. Taste and add more kimchi or miso, if you like, to make it spicier or saltier.

Quick, easy, five-ingredient udon noodle soup with pork, vegetables and kimchi in a miso broth.

Click here to read the rest of the post!

mum's home-cooked meals

Apologies, for I'll be a bit slack with posts this month and quite possibly the next too. December and January are traditionally very busy times of the year at the company where I work - no annual leave is to be taken these several weeks, and I've been working late quite often, which means not having much time to do a lot of cooking.

I have to say though, I'm a lucky girl because my parents are here visiting from Malaysia and they have been good company and so fantastic and understanding. Not only that, but they've been adding a cosy domestic touch to my apartment, and in the evenings I often arrive home to a lovely dinner waiting for me. So here, I want to share with you a few of the highlights from the past two weeks.

This seafood dish had generous lashings of fish, prawns, and asian greens with a mix of somen and soba noodles. Pretty luxurious for something that was just hurriedly thrown together at a whim!

seafood noodles

This is a simple minced pork congee with a sprinkling of spring onions on top. My mum makes a distinctive style of congee - thick and gooey, instead of the usual delicate and watery ones. It's incredibly comforting, and I adore it.

minced pork congee with spring onions

And of course, the infamous bak kut teh. I grew up in Klang, after all, which is well-known for this rich-tasting herbal pork soup. This one was made with the help of pre-mixed spices, but it's good quality stuff and of course personal touches are added. Plus, the pork was carefully selected and prepared. Needless to say, pork leg made an appearance. You want some skin and fat in this dish - they're the best. Look at all that glistening, gelatinous goodness!

bak kut teh

That's all for now but there will be plenty more where this came from, because my parents are pretty awesome. I hope everyone is having a good December so far, and coping well with any of the madness that comes with the silly season!

Click here to read the rest of the post!

vegan with a punch: spicy japchae

I've been buying all sorts of things at the Korean grocery lately, and one of my recent purchases is dangmyeon, a type of cellophane noodle made from sweet potato starch. I'm familiar with rice vermicelli and bean thread noodles, but dangmyeon is pretty foreign to me, so I thought it would be fun to give it a whirl.

dangmyeon

As a shout out to my vegetarian friends, and after looking at various recipes for ideas, I decided to make a vegan dinner out of the dangmyeon, my version of the Korean japchae. After preparing the dangmyeon according to the packet instructions, I added kimchi, steamed silken tofu, fresh cucumber, soy sauce and sesame oil.

spicy vegan japchae

Toss, and it's ready to eat! The dangmyeon had a nice slippery texture with a bit of a bite - I think it has the potential to be pretty versatile and I will be using it in soups, salads and stir-fries.

Click here to read the rest of the post!

men-tsuyu to the rescue

I got home at nearly 10pm tonight and all I wanted was something to eat ASAP, so I fall to my usual staple: organic noodles and vegetables. Normally I'd add some protein as well, but the only eligible candidates were a couple of chicken drumsticks in the freezer, and I couldn't be bothered defrosting them.

Luckily, I have some organic men-tsuyu (Japanese noodle seasoning) which I bought last weekend and haven't tried yet, but I suspected it would make my meagre meal tastier. The main ingredients are listed as soy sauce, dried fish flakes, kelp, sugar and vinegar, and I have to say it lent a lovely savoury touch to my noodles, with a well-balanced hint of sweetness. Hurrah for helpful seasonings!

organic ramen salad

Click here to read the rest of the post!