Vegetable Noodle Stir-Fry

Ingredients

• 300 g egg noodles
• 150 g beansprouts
• Steamed jasmine rice, to serve
• 2 carrots, cut into matchsticks
• 1 red pepper, thinly sliced
• 200 g tenderstem broccoli, cut into small florets
• Pickled cucumber, to serve
• 3 cloves garlic, crushed
• 3 tbsp soy sauce
• 1 tbsp honey
• 1 tbsp sesame oil
• 2 tbsp vegetable oil
• Fresh coriander, to serve

Method

1. Bring a large pan of well-salted water to the boil — it should taste like the sea — and cook the egg noodles to pack instructions. Drain, rinse briefly under cold water to stop them, then toss with a drizzle of sesame oil so they don't clump while you get on with the rest.
2. Whisk the soy sauce, honey and remaining sesame oil together in a small bowl until the honey loosens into the soy and the sauce pours cleanly off the spoon.
3. Heat the vegetable oil in a large wok over a high heat until it properly shimmers — a wok that isn't smoking-hot will steam the vegetables instead of searing them. Add the carrots and tenderstem broccoli and stir-fry for 3 minutes, keeping everything moving, until the broccoli is bright green and just starting to char at the tips.
4. Add the red pepper and beansprouts and stir-fry for a minute, then add the crushed garlic and cook for 30 seconds more, just until fragrant — don't let it colour past pale gold or the whole wok turns bitter. The pepper should still have bite.
5. Tip in the noodles and pour the sauce around the edge of the wok so it hisses against the hot metal and caramelises as it slides down. Toss everything together for a final minute so the sauce coats the noodles and clings to the vegetables. Taste — most of the salt comes from the soy, but adjust now with a pinch more salt or a splash more soy if it needs lifting. Adjust now, not at the table.
6. Pile the noodles into bowls straight from the wok, scatter generously with toasted sesame seeds, and finish each bowl with a squeeze of lime — the acid cuts through the honey and pulls the whole thing into focus.