Ingredients

• 1 liter vegetable bouillon (2 pints)
• 3 cm fresh ginger (root, 1 inch)
• 3 lemon leaves (or optionally a piece of lime peel)
• 1 tablespoon fish sauce (replace optionally with one table spoon light soy sauce)
• 2 tablespoons light soy sauce
• 150 -200 g pak choi (6 ounces)
• 100 g shiitake mushrooms (3.5 ounces)
• 100 g carrots (3.5 ounces)
• 1/2 onion (or half a bush of scallions)
• 2 garlic cloves
• 1 spanish pepper
• 1 lime
• 1 handful coriander leaves
• 150 g noodles (uncooked, 5-6 ounces)
• 150 g shrimp (cooked and peeled, 5-6 ounces, replace optionally with fried tofu cubes)
• chili sauce
• salt

Instructions

1. PREPARATION (20 minutes).

2. Heat the bouillon to boiling temperature. Add the ginger and lemon leaves and simmer for 15 minutes. Remove the lemon leaves and ginger and add the soy sauce and fish sauce.

3. Cook the noodles according to the instructions printed on the packing of the product but shorten the cooking time with 30 seconds.

4. Wash and cut the vegetables. Slice the onion (to half rings). Slice the garlic. Cut the carrot julienne. Cut the shiitake into slices. Cut the pepper into strips. Cut the paksoi into pieces of 1-2 centimeters. Chop the coriander leaves.

5. Cut the lime into two halves. Cut one of the two halves into two pieces and leave the other half intact.

6. COOKING (10 minutes).

7. Fry the onion (1,5 minutes).

8. Add pepper and garlic and fry these (1 minute).

9. Add mushrooms and fry these (1,5 minute).

10. Add carrot and fry these (1 minute).

11. Add bouillon and shrimps and bring to boiling point.

12. Add paksoi pieces and cook these for a short time (1 minute maximum).

13. Squeeze half a lime in the soup.

14. Add salt to taste.

15. Add the noodles and heat these in the soup.

16. Add the coriander and serve the soup.

17. SERVING TIPS.

18. Serve the soup with the two lime pieces and the chili sauce.

19. VARIATIONS.

20. Serious vegetarians can replace the shrimps with fried tofu cubes and the fish sauce with light soy sauce. Add these together with the mushrooms.

21. The shiitake mushrooms can be replaced with other musrooms like chantarelles.

22. The paksoi and carrot can be wholly or partially replced with other crunchy vegetables like chinese cabbage, pepper or fennel. French beans or sugar peas are also tasteful in this dish. When you this you have to adapt the cooking times.

23. DORUS TIPS.

24. Use a tasteful noodle for this dish. I prefer japanese soba noodles.

25. Don't overcook the vegetables. The paksoi has to stay crunchy.