Hot and Sour Chicken Broth

We spent most of the day playing board games with the Western Australian Boardgames Association, who have an ENORMOUS collection of games and loads of friendly people to play with. Learned three new games: a sailing/trading/collecting game a bit like Bohnanza, a game about trading and selling tea (my favourite! But maybe because I won :) and a game about defeating Cthulu using schoolgirl powers, like a British Buffy.

The upshot for dinner was that we didn't go shopping, and I had to use all my powers of improvisation on the remaining sad vegetables in the fridge to create a decent meal. Fortunately I had also used my power of foresight and left a chicken breast defrosting in the fridge, knowing I'd need some protein after morning Zumba.

Overall this worked pretty well, even the courgette (carefully not overcooked). Not a patch on fresh Chinese greens of course. The heart of cauliflower just needed using up; you could easily sub this for something more tasty, like some broccoli or sugar-snap peas.

Ingredients:

• a thumb of ginger
• a stick of lemongrass
• a handful of coriander stalks
• a couple of bay leaves
• 1 tsp vegetable stock powder
• a chilli (optional)
• juice of half a lemon
• a large carrot
• a heart of cauliflower
• a large courgette
• a chicken breast
• 2 x 75g bundles of dried egg noodles

Cut the ginger in half and slice perpendicular grooves into the flesh, to increase the surface area without breaking the ginger up into small pieces. Simmer with the lemongrass, coriander stalks, bay leaves, stock powder and chilli if using, in around 300ml water, for 20 minutes or until the stock is fragrant.

Meanwhile, peel and dice the carrot and cauliflower. Halve the courgette lengthwise and scoop out the soft seedy interior. Chuck, eat, or feed to the worms. Dice the remaining firm shell of courgette into the same size cubes.

Drain and reserve the stock, discarding the ginger etc. Squeeze in the lemon juice. Fry the carrot in a little vegetable oil, leaving it to sear just a tad. Add the stock and simmer for a couple of minutes. Finely shred or slice the chicken and add with the courgette, cauliflower and noodles. Bring back up to the boil and simmer for a minute or so, until the noodles are soft, the chicken is cooked through and the courgette is barely done. Top up with hot water if  the noodles have absorbed too much. Serve and drizzle over with very dark soy sauce.

Chinese Broth and Dumplings

Still running down the freezer - including a lovely pack of mixed dumplings I picked up from the Chinese supermarket an unspeakably long time ago. Luckily they steam right back to life, and go very well with a quick vegetable broth that simmers as we go for a walk. With a batch of quickly stir-fried vegetables it makes a light yet nourishing weekday meal. The trick is to have everything ready before you begin to stir-fry the vegetables, and to make sure they do not overcook; they should still have some bite and taste green, never soggy.

Ingredients:
For the vegetable stock:

• 1 carrot, topped, tailed and scrubbed
• 1 onion, peeled and halved
• 2 sticks of celery
• 2 bay leaves
• 1 stick of lemongrass
• a thumb-sized piece of ginger
• a dried chilli
• a handful of coriander stems

For the stir-fried vegetables:

• half a head of broccoli
• two handfuls of sugar-snap peas
• 2-3 spring onions
• 2 cloves of garlic

To finish:

• 8-12 dumplings, steamed according to the packet instructions
• coriander leaves
• lemon wedges
• soy sauce

Put all of the stock ingredients in a saucepan and cover with boiling water; bring to a boil and then simmer for at least an hour. Meanwhile, finely slice the broccoli and cut the sugar-snap peas and spring onions into long strips. Five minutes before the dumplings are done, heat some vegetable oil in a wok and throw in the broccoli, tossing it about for a few minutes. Add the sugar snap peas and spring onions, toss for a further minute, then crush in the garlic and stir-fry for a further two minutes.

Drain the stock into the wok (or into another bowl first, if you dislike enormous clouds of steam), and slosh over a good few tsbp of soy sauce (depending on its strength). Serve the broth and vegetables into bowls and top with the dumplings and coriander leaves. Bring to the table with lemon wedges and soy sauce on the side so that people can lighten and salt the broth to their taste.