ASIAN NEIGHBOURS

I have discovered that I have a tad of an obsession with Australian Women's Weekly cookbooks. If you are a regular viewer of this blog I am sure that you have noticed this by now. For some reason these publications call out to me from the library / bookstore shelf. I am powerless against their hold. I think the reason for my commitment to these books is that the recipes are simplistic, reader-friendly and combine ingredients that work wonderfully together. Also I love the font the publication uses. So clean-cut and inviting. Flick through an AWW cookbook next time you are in a bookstore, you'll see what I mean.

Ever since my trip to Bali in August/September this year, I have started exploring asian dishes in the kitchen on a frequent basis. This continent really seems to be onto something. Their food stands unparalleled in taste and simplicity. The ingredients are fresh, interesting and light in calories. A perfect example is the Thai Chicken Noodle Broth below.

THAI CHICKEN NOODLE BROTH 

Ingredients 

• 1 litre (4 cups) chicken stock
• 2 cups (500ml) water
• 3cm piece fresh ginger (15g), grated
• 1/4 teaspoon chilli flakes
• 400g chicken breast fillets, sliced thinly
• 400- 440g udon noodles
• 1 tablespoon fish sauce 
• 1 tablespoon lime juice
• 2 baby buk choy (300g), white stalks removed and sliced into 5cm long pieces 

Cooking

1. Combine stock, water, ginger and chilli in a large saucepan. Cover and bring to the boil. Reduce heat and simmer for 5 minutes. 

2. Add chicken, noodles, sauce and juice and simmer for about 5 minutes or until chicken is cooked through and noodles are tender. Break apart noodles with a fork. 

3. Divide buk choy among serving bowls and ladle chicken broth into bowls. 

Preparation time- 15 minutes / Cooking time- 15 minutes / Serves 4

Nutritional count per serving- 7.1g fat / 289 calories (1208kj) / 27.5g carbohydrate / 27.6g protein / 1.7g fibre 

x E