Serves 4

Preparation Time: 15 minutes / Cooking Time: 15 minutes

My hubby told me to ‘surprise him’ for dinner one night, so armed with mince, noodles and three different types of Korean mushrooms, I decided to whip up a beef and three mushroom noodle soup. I am a big pasta fan in general, but really got into noodle soup after watching (don’t laugh) Kung Foo Panda!

Ingredients

For the broth:

• 1.5L chicken stock
• 3 tbs fish sauce
• 1 tsp garlic paste
• 1 tsp sesame oil
• 150g x 3 different types of mushrooms thickly sliced (450g in total)
• 1 long stalk of spring onion, finely sliced
• 1 or 2 hot chillies, sliced thinly
• Shredded sesame leaves/mint to garnish
• 200g cooked noodles of your choice

For the meatballs:

• 300g beef mince
• ¼ cup panko bread crumbs
• 1 egg
• 1 tsp ginger paste
• 1 tsp salt

Method

1. Put the stock, fish sauce, garlic paste and sesame oil in a large pot. Stir and heat on high to bring to the boil.
2. Meanwhile, put all the ingredients for the meatballs into a mixing bowl. Squeeze and knead the mixture with your hands to combine together well.
3. When the stock has reached boiling point, take a tablespoon of the mince mixture and roll into a ball shape with your hands. TIP – If the mince sticks to your hands while shaping, wet hands lightly before shaping each meatball, and work quickly.
4. Place each meatball into the boiling stock, ensuring they do not stick to another ball during cooking. You should make between 15-20 meatballs depending on their exact size.
5. After all balls are cooking, add the spring onions and chilli, reduce heat to medium-low and simmer for 5 minutes.
6. Add mushrooms, cover with lid and simmer for further 5 minutes until mushrooms soften and reduce in size.
7. Shut heat and leave with the lid on for 5 minutes.
8. Serve in a large noodle bowl with broth, mushrooms and meatballs on top of cooked noodles.
9. Garnish with shredded sesame/mint leaves.

You can add other Asian greens and vegetables to step 6 if you prefer extra vegetables.

Enjoy! GPW