Easy noodle soup (or pantry pho!)

I really felt like pho, or tom yum soup, however we didn't really have many of the ingredients, and I couldn't be shagged going down the street.  So I came up with soup based on what was in the fridge and the pantry.  I think, but I can't be sure, that it contained the following:

Pork and noodles

1 pork fillet
1 tbsp chinese five spice
1 tsp salt
1 tbsp brown sugar
1 tsp smokey paprika

Rub the above ingredients onto the pork, and brush with olive oil.  Gently pan fry until crisping up and browning/blackish on each side.  Put in a very low oven to keep warm.  It doesn't matter if it's not cooked through as it will cook very quickly in the hot soup.

I had a pack of singapore noodles in the cupboard, and preparing them was as simple as standing them in hot water for a few minutes.

Broth/Soup

Place some dried chinese mushrooms in a bowl of water, and leave to stand for around 10 minutes.  Carefully wash 1 bunch of pak choy (make sure you get rid of all the grit), and take leaves apart.  Place in a large saucepan with around 1.25L of chicken stock, 3 crushed garlic cloves, a knob of peeled ginger sliced into matchsticks and 1 tbsp soy sauce.  I also added 2 star anise, 1 cinammon stick, 1 tsp szechuan peppers, 1 tsp coriander seeds, 1 tbsp lime juice, 1 finely shopped kaffir lime leaf, and 1 tbsp black peppercorns.  Squeeze the liquid from the mushrooms and add them to the soup.  Simmer this for around 15 minutes.

Thinly slice the pork, and arrange with the noodles in bowls.  Add the soup, and serve with sliced spring onions, deep fried shallots, and lemon and lime juice.  If I had bean sprouts, they would have been on the table as well.  I also added some chilli to my bowl, seeing as Kara is a bit of a wimp when it comes to the spicy stuff!

Even without the chilli, the ginger and the lemon and lime gave this soup a great freshness and zingyness, and certainly cleared the sinuses out - the aroma was amazing!