One of my favourite winter warmers, I crave this when I am sick with a cold or flu, or simply a bit tired and stressed. I am not mad about the term ‘clean eating’ but it does describe this pretty well. This is a great way to use up leftover roast chicken if you have it, but if you don’t you can use chicken fillets as per the recipe below. If you have roast chicken left over, simply shred it and add it in for the last minute of cooking to heat it through.

Serves 2

Ingredients 

750ml chicken or vegetable stock 

1 chicken fillet, sliced into bite-sized pieces

1 tablespoon nam pla (Thai fish sauce)

Juice of 1 lime or lemon

1 clove of garlic, finely sliced

1 large piece of ginger, peeled and sliced

1 nest of medium egg noodles

3 handfuls of mixed vegetables (e.g. baby sweetcorn, mangetout, pak choi, spinach, peppers, sugar snaps, beansprouts) 

1 fresh red chilli, sliced (optional)

A small bunch of coriander or flat-leaf parsley, chopped

2 spring onions, sliced

Method

Put the stock into a large pot and bring to the boil. Place the chicken, nam pla, lime/lemon juice, garlic and ginger into it and poach over a medium heat for 3–4 minutes or until the chicken has turned white. Make sure the water is not boiling too hard or the chicken will break up.

Add the noodles and the harder vegetables, such as the corn (if using) and peppers. Poach for another 3–4 minutes.

Remove a large piece of chicken and slice in half to check that it is cooked through. If it is cooked, switch off the heat.

Add the leafy greens and any other vegetables you are using and stir through. Taste for balance between the citrus juice and nam pla. Adjust to your liking by adding more nam pla if necessary.

Ladle into bowls, ensuring a good mix of all the ingredients with poaching liquid. When serving, sprinkle with the chilli (if using), herbs and spring onions.