Culinary Cure for the Common Cold

Well ok, that might be a bit of an overclaim but what I'm about to share certainly made me feel better when I had a blocked nose and a hacking cough yesterday. It's a type of noodle soup inspired by some of the delicious Ramens and other noodle soups I've eaten in New York. So before I give you my self-created recipe, which I have to say worked a treat, I want to give you some recommendations on Ramen in New York.

By no means has my pursuit of fine Ramen been exhaustive, mainly because there are two places very close to my apartment that make such truly delicious Ramen that I haven't felt the need to look further afield.

The first is the Momofuku Noodle Bar - they do good Ramen, not spectacular, but good. What makes it special is that you can get your apetite going  with one of their soy sauce eggs (somehow infused and cooked in soy sauce and then sprinkled with salt and crispy onions - delicious!) and a jar of their home-made pickles. Then accompany your Ramen with an order of their steamed pork buns whch are unparalleled naughty little bready pillows filled with sticky barbecued belly pork. Mmmmmm.

The second, I think, is superior Ramen. Whereas Momofuku puts a poached egg in their Ramen, Kambi Ramen puts a soy-boiled egg in theirs which is much tastier.

I also have an emotional link to Kambi which I think makes theirs taste even better. When I first moved to New York, in the depths of winter, I was jobless, so would go for long walks around the city just to look around. On one of these days it had started snowing hard, I was inappropriately dressed, my fingers were numb, it was dark outside, I'd sold my family into slavery for one piece of coal.....you get the picture. Anyhoo, I stumbled across Kambi, this warm, cosily lit steamy den of amazing aromas and the Ramen was exactly what I needed. I mean, if I had explained to some kind of fairy godmother the sensations I wished a meal could provide for me at that moment, she couldn't have done better than Kambi's Ramen. A very long winded way of saying, I may be somewhat biased but I still think their Ramen is amazing.

But enough of that, what I constructed last night was not quite a Ramen but not far off and it took less than half an hour to throw together. It's low in fat and calories yet filling, warming and great if you have a cold:

(Serves 2 with enormous appetites or 4 for a light meal)

Ingredients:

1 tablespoon of Olive oil

2 cloves of garlic, finely chopped (very good for colds as is fresh ginger so if you fancy grating a 2 inch piece and mixing it with the garlic that's not a bad plan!)

250g sliced mushrooms (shitake if you can get them, but regular button mushrooms will do if not)

2 large chicken breasts cut into short strips

2 tablespoons of sushi vinegar

1 tablespoon soy sauce

2 vegetable stock cubes

2 litres of boiling water

1 large carrot peeled and cut into matchsticks

1 large handful of broccoli florets

2 small bok choy chopped

1 finely chopped spring onion

1 teaspoon dried chilli flakes

2 packs of straight-to-wok or fresh noodles - udon or soba are best (you could use dried egg or rice noodles but if you do, adjust cooking time accordingly)

1. Fry the garlic, mushrooms and chicken in the oil in a frying pan over a medium heat until it starts to brown.

2. Add the soy sauce and 1 tablespoon of the vinegar and continue to cook over a medium-high heat until the liquid has evaporated, then turn off the heat and set to one side.

3. Crumble the stock cubes in a big soup pan and pour over the boiling water - stir until the stock cubes have dissolved completely.

4. Add the carrots and cook for 2 mins.

5. Add the broccoli and cook for a further 2 mins.

6. Add the chilli flakes, remaining vinegar and the noodles and cook for a further two mins.

7. Add the bok choy, cooked chicken and mushrooms and cook for a further minute.

8. Sprinkle with spring onions, stir and serve.

And finally, marvel at the miraculous disappearance of your cold-induced-self-pity (I did anyway).