Recipe: Chicken and coconut noodle broth

This dish started out as a version of laksa but got sort- of sidetracked along the way. It's a lovely, soothing, comfort food  dish, not quite a soup and not quite a bowl of noodles. The quantity I made was intended to serve two but would easily have served 3-4, especially with a few more noodles added.

You will need:

2 chicken breast portions, ideally with skin and bone
1 x 400 ml can coconut milk
1 x 120g can coconut cream
1 tbs chilli jam
2 tbs light soy sauce
juice of 1 lime
130 g medium egg noodles
about a quarter of a head of Chinese leaves, finely sliced

to finish:
10 cm length of cucumber, cut into slim sticks
2 tbs skinned peanuts and/or cashews, toasted lightly in a dry pan (or use bought dry roasted nuts)
a few fried shallot or onion flakes  - most supermarkets sell them for use as salad toppings or you can buy large jars from Asian stores
1 thinly sliced red chilli, seeds removed
6 leaves of mint or basil, finely shredded

Place the chicken in a saucepan  and cover with water. Cover with a lid and cook gently for about 25 minutes until the chicken is cooked through. Use a slotted spoon to remove it from the pan, leaving the liquid behind in the pan.

Remove the skin and bones from the chicken - they've flavoured the broth now so they've done their job - and slice the chicken meat into spoonful sized pieces.

Add the coconut cream, coconut milk, chilli jam, soy sauce and lime juice to the broth in the pan, bring to the boil and then add the noodles to cook for the time directed on the pack. A minute before they are due to be ready, toss in the shredded cabbage and mix. When the noodles are cooked, reduce the heat to low and return the chicken to the pan. Heat through, stirring, until the chicken is piping hot.

Divide the meat, cabbage, noodles and liquid between large soup bowls and top each portion with the garnishes as shown.

Eat carefully, preferably while wearing plastic overalls and sitting in the bath if your noodle eating skillz are anything like mine!

I'm  sharing this with Cook Blog Share at Easy Peasy Foodie where this week you will find some great Autumn Comfort Food recipes.