Have you ever tried a Pot Noodle? They’re something of a student food icon in the UK. Pour some boiling water on, straight from the kettle, leave to stand for a few minutes and hey presto! Dried noodles and other…erm…things… suddenly transform into a meal for one. To be honest I was never that keen. I could manage the beef & tomato variety (with a large extra squirt of ketchup) when I was a starving student, but I tended to stick to a diet of toast, beer and chocolate - supplemented by the 3-times-weekly free burger meal from my part time job at a fast food restaurant. 13 years later and I think my liver has just about recovered. This homemade pot noodle however, is different. Fresh ingredients, lots of taste, and a shelf life that wouldn’t take us to the next millennium. This Homemade Chicken and Vegetable Pot Noodle (Instant Noodles) makes a great office lunch - even if you don’t have a kitchen. Bring it into the office, store it in the fridge or a cool bag, then come lunchtime, pour on the homemade flavour paste and some boiling water from the kettle. Leave it to sit for a few minutes, then give it a stir and eat. The simplest soup you’ve ever made! The preparation at home is pretty simple too. Make a flavour paste using some simple ingredients that you probably already have in the cupboard. Store it in a little tub. Then place your dried noodles, veg and finely chopped cooked chicken in a large mug, along with ½ a tsp of cornflour (this will help to slightly thicken the soup). Cover it and refrigerate (or store in a cool bag) until lunchtime. I’d recommend using dried rice noodles for this dish. The ready-cooked rice noodles are ok, but they don’t absorb the flavour quite as well. Also, vermicelli noodles are better than the flat rice noodles - because they take less time to soften in the boiled water (meaning your soup will be hotter by the time you come to eat it). Flat noodles - as you can see from my picture here - still work well though.
The Homemade Chicken and Vegetable Pot Noodle (Instant Noodles) Recipe:
If you love noodle dishes why not try my amazing Ramen Noodle Soup.
