Chicken Noodle Soup Base for the Freezer

• 2.5litres chicken stock
• 1kgboneless skinless chicken thighs
• 50gginger, sliced into coins
• 4garlic cloves, sliced
• 2onions, finely chopped
• 3carrots, halved lengthways and sliced
• 3celery sticks, sliced
• 200gchestnut mushrooms, sliced
• 300gfrozen sweetcorn
• 4 tbsplight soy sauce
• 1 tbsprice vinegar
• 1 tbsptoasted sesame oil
• fine salt
• white pepper
• 500gdried egg noodles (8 nests, one a head) (optional)
• 4pak choi, quartered lengthways (optional)
• 6spring onions, finely sliced (optional)
• 2 tbspchilli oil, for anyone who wants heat (optional)

Method

1. 1Put the stock in your largest saucepan with the chicken thighs, ginger, garlic, onions, carrots and celery. Bring to the boil, skim off any grey foam, then turn down and simmer gently for 20 minutes until the chicken is cooked through with no pink and pulls apart easily with a fork. Keep it at a gentle simmer; a hard boil makes the broth cloudy and the chicken tough.
2. 2Lift the chicken out onto a board. Add the mushrooms and sweetcorn to the pan and simmer for 8 minutes until the mushrooms are tender. Shred the chicken with two forks and return it to the pan.
3. 3Season with the soy sauce, rice vinegar, sesame oil and a good pinch of white pepper. Taste and add salt only if it needs it: it should be savoury and gingery with a little pepper heat at the back.
4. 4Ladle the portions for the freezer into containers now, before any noodles go in, and leave them to cool. Noodles turn soft and swell in the freezer, so they are always cooked fresh on the night.
5. 5To finish portions tonight, use the optional egg noodles, pak choi and spring onions. The listed amounts serve eight: use one noodle nest, half a pak choi and about three-quarters of a spring onion per person. Bring the soup to a simmer, add the noodles and pak choi and cook for the noodle packet time, until the noodles are tender and the pak choi stems have a little bite.
6. 6Ladle the finished noodle soup into bowls and scatter over the spring onions. Add the optional chilli oil for anyone who wants heat.
7. 7Cool the freezer portions within 2 hours and freeze for up to 3 months. Defrost overnight in the fridge and reheat in a pan until piping hot, then add a nest of noodles a head and the pak choi for the last 3 to 4 minutes until the noodles are tender.

Per serving

kcal

268

protein

30.6g

fibre

3.3g

carbs

18.3g

fat

8.1g