A hybrid noodle soup that starts off Hong Kong-style and finishes with Korean-style Gochugang sauce.

The first time I had noodle soup was in room service at the Peninsula Hotel in Hong Kong in 2014 and I was an instant convert. As soon as I got home I started trying to recreate it. Lately I’ve been playing with hot and tangy flavourful sauces to go with it like Geraldine does at the Courtyard Cafe in Takaka. She is Singaporean and her noodle soup is fabulous with a fiery sauce to drizzle over. I settled on a Gochugang sauce which ticks all the boxes.

A fast and easy to meal to make, this version is very flexible. Use whatever is in season, use whatever noodles you prefer. The only really important thing is that you use a well flavoured stock. I used homemade chicken but you can substitute vegetable stock.

First prepare your chosen vegetables. Cut each one into uniform pieces so they cook at the same time. Estimate how much you will eat per person.

Next prepare your toppings. Assuming we don’t all have twice cooked pork belly in the fridge you can make do with an egg per person whisked and fried into an omelette, seasoned with soy sauce and perhaps some chives then rolled up and sliced into thin ribbons when it is cooked through. You can fry some crispy bacon or tofu. Spring onions or chives are good and coriander adds a nice twang. Dumplings are nice if you have them in the freezer.

Put the stock (2 cups per person) on to boil in a roomy pot and prepare the gochugang sauce while you are waiting. Gochugang is a fiery brick red Korean paste made from red chillies, salt, fermented soybeans and glutinous rice.

Gochugang sauce for four people

Mix together in a small bowl:

2 Tbsp gochugang

2Tbsp brown sugar or palm sugar grated

4 tsp soy sauce

2 cloves garlic peeled and minced

1 Tbsp sesame oil

2 tsp rice wine vinegar

juice of one lemon or lime

1 Tbsp chopped chives or spring onion

When the stock is boiling, begin to cook everything by putting into the stock first the thing that will cook the longest, then the thing that cooks the next longest, aiming to have everything cooked at the same time. For example the carrots will take longer than the broccoli. However not to worry if this plan falls apart because you can fish out the broccoli, for example, if you realise it is overcooking. Read the packet instructions for your noodles carefully. If they are thin rice noodles you might only need to soak them in boiling water. As each element is cooked you can start arranging them in bowls. Don’t worry about them getting cold as you will be pouring the boiling stock over soon.

As soon as the soup elements are all cooked and arranged in bowls, pour the boiling stock over. Have some boiling water in the jug on hand in case the stock reduced too much during all the boiling. You want to aim for each bowl to have submerged noodles and vegetables but not swimming, and you want the stock the remain flavourful.

Place the toppings attractively on top and serve with the gochugang sauce for drizzling over according to each person’s taste.