Heaven in a bowl

Good morning all!! So it's Monday already! Well I've something here that will hopefully cheer you up. Give you hope. Something to look forward to. I'm letting you in on a secret here. I'm going to share with you an amazing recipe. You're going to love it. Well you might not, if you're like Boyfriend and don't like soupy dishes that require a little bit of slurping. But I want you to try this. You won't regret it.

Basically the inspiration for this dish came a few years ago after a much enjoyed visit to a japanese chain of restaurants. I loved the dish I'd ordered so much, I just had to recreate it at home. And that's pretty much what I did. Although the beauty of it is, you only need a few core ingredients. The rest can be altered depending on what you have in the fridge. That's what's so great about it. And if you're still not convinced, listen to this: it's low fat. Yep, not only is it absolutely delicious, cheap and cheerful, it's also healthy. Hip hip, hooray!!!

The core ingredients include what I like to refer to as the "holy trinity". And that would be garlic, chilli and ginger. Now, if you have a strong objection to any of these, I don't think we can be friends anymore. No I'm only joking!! But honestly, even if you're not so keen on say ginger, just give it a go. Just once. For me ;-)

The other core ingredients you'll need are soy sauce, lemon juice and noodles. It's all rather up to you from here. You'll need some sort of veg. Onion, carrot, mangetout, broccoli, courgette, mushroom all work well. So select two or three depending on what you've got in the fridge and get cooking. Oh, and I usually add some prawns in there too. If you're a little confused by now, then follow me. Here it goes.

Get all your ingredients chopped and ready (a summary of what I used will be provided at the end of this post).

Heat a little oil in a large pan. I used groundnut oil this time, but usually use vegetable oil. Whatever you've got at hand. When hot, add onion if using, and chilli. I used some really hot chilli, so I put it to fry from the start, as it needs a little more time to loose its deathening heat. Leave to soften for about 3 minutes on a medium to high heat.

Add the ginger and garlic. Give it all a good mix. Leave to cook for another 2 minutes.

Then add whatever veg you're using. Here we've got some mushroom. If you're using mangetout, keep them for a little later.

Put the kettle on and boil some water. Add noodles to your pan (I use dry ones, it makes this recipe really easy and I usually have some in the cupboard). Add boiling water to your pan to cover the noodles.

Add the prawns and mangetout. Boil gently for about 4 minutes (this basically depends on how long your noodles need to cook. Any longer than this and wait until you add the prawns and mangetout for a bit, otherwise they'll overcook.).

Turn the heat off. Add lemon juice and some soy sauce. Serve up in a bowl. Welcome to heaven.

Recap ingredients list used here for one hungry person (all this can easily be doubled or more):

• a small onion, sliced
• a quarter of a really really hot chilli, chopped finely
• two cloves of garlic, chopped finely
• a 3cm long piece of ginger, chopped finely
• four buttercup white mushrooms, sliced
• a handfull of mangetout
• a pack of dried noodles for one
• a handfull of prawns (cooked or raw, it doesn't matter, they'll warm up/ cook in the time given)
• juice of half a lemon
• a tablespoon of soy sauce

I should say, you could add a little bit of coconut milk before adding the lemon juice and soy sauce, for some extra yummy specialness. Your taste buds won't regret it, but your waistline might ;-)

Happy Monday all xx