Ginger chicken and vegetable noodle bowls

This is a big main course soup. Cooking the chicken produces more of the well-flavoured broth than you will need and also gives you a chicken carcass, both of which can be frozen for further use. You can vary the vegetables used, just make sure they are cut small enough or sliced thin enough to cook in 5 minutes in the broth. This recipe forms part of the August 6 meal planner created in partnership with New World.

Ingredients

1 medium	Free-range chicken, 1.5kg, wing tips cut off (Main)
1 piece	Ginger, 8cm, thinly sliced (Main)
4	Garlic cloves, sliced
2 sticks	Celery, thinly sliced
300 g	Carrots, peeled and thinly sliced
4 Tbsp	Japanese soy sauce, naturally brewed
4 small	Shanghai bok choy, quartered lengthways (Main)
4 packets	Udon noodles, 200g, cooked (I used the Dragon Food brand from the supermarket) or 350g of your favourite dried noodles boiled until al dente in plenty of water, drained ready when the soup is ready (Main)
1	Red chilli, thinly sliced
1 handful	Coriander sprigs, for serving

Directions

1. Put the chicken into a large saucepan and cover well with water. Add the ginger and garlic, bring to the boil and boil gently 1 hour. In the first 15 minutes, skim the scum so that the stock is clear. Remove the cooked chicken to a platter and let cool until able to be handled.
2. Strain stock and remove 1.5 litres. Cool and freeze for further use in soups and sauces. It makes a great for gravy for roast chicken.
3. Pull the meat off the bones of the chicken and break into bite-sized pieces. Reserve. Freeze the carcass for making more stock.
4. Put the remaining stock in a clean saucepan and bring to the boil. Add the reserved chicken meat to the boiling stock with the celery, carrots, soy sauce and bok choy. Simmer 5 minutes, taste and season. Add the cooked noodles, mix well and bring back to the boil. Serve in bowls sprinkled with chilli and coriander.

This recipe forms part of the August 6meal plannercreated in partnership with New World.