Name: Prawn Noodle Soup
Prep time: 15 min
Cook time: 15 min
Total time: 30 min
Yield: 4 servings
Cuisine: Chinese
Ingredients: 1 litre chicken stock; 20 g fresh ginger, sliced; 2 cloves garlic, sliced; 2 tbsp soy sauce; 250 g egg noodles; 300 g raw peeled prawns; 150 g pak choi, sliced; 2 spring onions, about 30 g, sliced; 1 tsp sesame oil

Prawn Noodle Soup

Egg noodles, prawns and pak choi in a ginger and garlic broth finished with soy sauce and sesame oil.

30 min total Serves 4 servings Easy

Why Prawn Noodle Soup Works

Do prawns really need to be cooked for so little time? Yes, and the whole recipe is built around that. Two to three minutes in a simmering broth turns them from grey to pink and leaves them tender. Five minutes makes them rubber.

The broth does the real work. Simmer the stock with the ginger, garlic and soy for 8 minutes before anything else goes in, so that the flavours are blended. Cook the noodles in a separate pan. Their starch clouds a clear broth, and egg noodles continue to soften if they stand in hot liquid.

Add the pak choi stems to the broth first, and the leaves with the prawns, since the stems need about 2 minutes longer. The prawns go in last and need only 3 minutes. They are done when they curl into a loose C and are pink all over.

Divide the noodles between four bowls, ladle over the hot broth, and finish with a drizzle of sesame oil and sliced spring onion. Eat immediately. If your hob runs hot, keep the broth at a gentle simmer.

What Goes With It

Chilli oil
Lime wedges
Green tea
Steamed dumplings

Sides from the same cuisine on this site: Stir-Fried Water Spinach, Vegan Fried Rice.

How to Make Prawn Noodle Soup

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Simmer the stock with the ginger, garlic and soy sauce for 8 minutes.
Meanwhile boil the noodles in a separate pan for 3 minutes and drain.
Add the pak choi stems to the broth for 2 minutes, then the leaves and prawns for 3 minutes until the prawns are pink.
Divide the noodles between four bowls, ladle over the soup and finish with the sesame oil and spring onions.

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A Few Notes

Do not overcook the prawns.

Cook the noodles separately.

If your hob runs hot, keep a gentle simmer.

Serve at once.

Changing the Recipe

Out of spring onions? A small regular onion, finely sliced, or a few chives stirred in at the end both cover the job.
If you only have ground ginger, a quarter-teaspoon for each tablespoon of fresh is the ratio usually given; it tastes warmer and less bright than the fresh root.
An eighth of a teaspoon of garlic powder per clove is the stand-in usually given when you are out of fresh garlic; it will not brown the same way, and it burns easily, so add it with the liquid.

Keeping What's Left

Best eaten at once. Keeps in the fridge for 1 day; store the noodles separately.