Asian Inspired Chicken Soup

I made this soup for lunch the other day as my daughters wanted some noodle soup.  It's warming, nourishing and great for a pick me up now that the weather is cooling down here in the UK.  It's also a good way to make the most of leftovers from a roast chicken or chicken pieces instead of a risotto or wraps that is my usual standby for chicken leftovers.

Chicken bones from roasted whole chicken or chicken pieces

1.5 litres (6 cups) boiling water

1 garlic clove, squished

1/2 inch piece fresh ginger, peeled and lightly squished

1 Tblsp oil

1 inch/2.5cm piece fresh ginger, peeled and finely chopped

2 cloves of garlic, crushed

1 small red chilli, deseeded and very finely chopped

500g leftover meat from roast chicken, shredded

2 Tblsp light soy sauce

1 tsp sesame oil

3 tsp brown sugar

4 spring onions, thinly sliced

1 bunch bok choy or chard, roughly chopped

400g dry noodles (I used Sharwood medium noodles)

Place the chicken bones in a large stock pot with the boiling water, garlic, ginger, lime leaves and lemongrass.  Boil slowly for around 2 hours until you have a lovely rich stock.  Remove the chicken bones, garlic and ginger.  Taste the stock at this point, if it isn't rich enough then add a couple of stock cubes to enhance the chicken flavour.  

When you're ready to make the soup, heat the oil in a large saucepan over medium-high heat.  Add the finely chopped ginger, crushed garlic and the chilli.  Cook for about a minute and then add 500ml (2 cups) of the chicken stock.  Cover with a saucepan lid and bring to the boil.  Add the shredded chicken. Cook for 5 minutes or until well heated through.

Add the remaining stock, soy sauce, sesame oil and sugar to the soup. Cover once again and bring back to the boil. Add the spring onion, bok choy and noodles. Cook for 3 minutes until the noodles are cooked and the bok choy or chard leaves have wilted.  Check the seasoning and then divide the soup between bowls to serve.

If you want to freeze the soup, don't add the spring onion, bok choy or noodles.  Freeze in a suitable container labelled with the contents and date, I usually defrost it and eat it within about a month.