This ramen recipe is hearty and warming, packed full of umami flavour and still gives you that fresh dish satisfaction. YOU CAN EASILY MIX UP THE PROTEIN TO INCLUDE WHATEVER YOU HAVE LYING AROUND IN THE FRIDGE SO IT’S PERFECT FOR A QUICK, LAST-MINUTE WEEKDAY MEAL.

serves 4- cooking time: 30 minutes (+ a minimum of 1 hour for marination)

Ingredients:

• 4 chicken breasts
• 2 tsp honey
• 2 tbsp soy sauce
• 1 tbsp ginger and garlic paste, or 2 minced garlic cloves and and a thumb-sized piece of ginger, peeled and grated
• 2 tsp chilli paste. Any one will do.
• 3-4 spring onions, peeled and chopped into thirds
• thumb-sized piece of ginger, sliced but not peeled
• 4 cloves of garlic, peeled and halved
• optional: 1 red chilli
• 1 litre chicken stock. I use a homemade stock but otherwise dissolve 2-3 stock cubes in a litre of boiling water.
• 1-2 tbsp of light soy sauce for extra flavour (how ever much you add all depends on how flavoursome your stock is)
• 250g mushrooms, thinly sliced (you can really use any type you fancy, I picked up the cheapest ‘wonky’ ones from the supermarket but they had good shape and colour
• 2 pak choi, washed with leaves separated
• 200g vermicelli rice noodles
• generous handful of beansprouts per bowl
• optional: sesame seeds, thinly sliced red chilli, sprinkling of coriander

Method:

1. Marination is always key to a tasty chicken dish. So get started by adding the chicken into a bowl, along with the honey, soy sauce, ginger and garlic and the chilli paste. Thoroughly mix until the chicken is fully coated and then cover and chill for at least an hour.
2. In the meantime, add the stock, soy sauce, ginger, garlic, spring onion and chilli to a saucepan. Bring to the boil and then reduce the heat and cover. Allow to cook together for 25-30 minutes.
3. Once the chicken is marinated, heat a oven to 200 degrees Celsius/400 degrees Farenheit/Gas Mark 6 and add in the chicken on a foiled tray. Cook for 15 minutes, flip over and baste with any spare juices then return to the oven for a further 10 minutes. You can cook for an extra 5 minutes on a high heat to crisp up the edges if they haven’t already.
4. Cook your rice noodles according to the packet, drain and separate into four separate bowls. This will cook a bit further once you pour over the hot stock so it doesn’t matter if they go cold.
5. In a separate pan, heat tiny bit of oil (or sesame oil works well) and gently wilt the pak choi for a few minutes.
6. Through a sieve and using a different pan, drain the stock. Return to the heat and add the mushrooms for the last 10 minutes before serving. Remove the chicken from the oven, allow to rest for 5 minutes and then carefully slice into strips.
7. Now time to assemble! Ladle the hot stock over the bowls of noodles, adding an even amount to each. Then carefully place on top the chicken, pak choi and a handful of beansprouts. Sprinkle over whatever toppings tickle your fancy and voila!