I am way behind in recipe updates again!  Oh my!  Since the holidays are past us now, I have a renewed excitement in trying new recipes.  This recipe comes from a book called Easy One Pot by Parragon Books.  I received it as a gift on my birthday from my friend Norm.  It has some really yummy recipes in it, but I admit this is the first one I have made so far.



Serves 4
1 tbsp chili oil
1 garlic clove, chopped
3 scallions, sliced
1 red bell pepper, seeded and finely sliced
2 tbsp cornstarch
4 cups vegetable stock
1 tbsp soy sauce
2 tbsp rice wine or dry sherry
5 1/2 oz or 150 g pork tenderloin, sliced
1 tbsp finely chopped lemongrass
1 small red chile, seeded and finely chopped
1 tbsp grated fresh ginger
4 oz/115 g fine egg noodles
7 oz/200 g canned water chestnuts, drained and sliced
salt and pepper

Heat the oil in a large pan.  Add the garlic and scallions and cook over medium heat, stirring, for 3 minutes, until slightly softened.  Add the bell pepper and cook for an additional 5 minutes, stirring.

In a bowl, mix the cornstarch with enough of the stock to make a smooth paste and stir into the pan.  Cook, stirring, for 2 minutes.  Stir in the remaining stock with the soy sauce and rice wine, then add the pork, lemongrass, chile, and ginger. Season with salt and pepper.  Bring to a boil, then lower the heat and simer for 25 minutes.  Add the noodles to the pan and cook for 3 minutes.  Add the water chestnuts and cook for another 2 minutes.  Ladle into serving bowls and serve.

(The only things I did differently were:
- I used chicken breast instead of pork because I didn't have any pork around.
- I added raw baby spinach at the same time as the water chestnuts.
- I used Udon noodles instead of egg noodles.  The Udon thickened up the soup a LOT .  It became too thick the longer it sat.  Next time I will use fine rice noodles.)


This soup was very tasty and I will definitely make it again!