4 servings
Serve with steamed dumplings on the side, or garnish with a few slices of cooked chicken sausage.
Ingredients
2 cloves garlic
One thumb-size piece fresh ginger root
1 mild red chilli pepper
2 large carrots
3 cups no-salt-added chicken broth, or more as needed
One 400ml low-fat coconut milk.
225g dried rice noodles
Leaves from 2 or 3 stems coriander
2 limes
1 tablespoon low-sodium soy sauce
1 teaspoon toasted sesame oil
Method
Cut the garlic into thin slices. Peel the ginger, then cut it into matchsticks. Stem and seed the chilli pepper, then cut it into thin strips. Scrub the carrots well, then cut into short, thin matchsticks.
Pour the broth into a deep saucepan over medium-high heat. Add the garlic, ginger and chilli pepper; once the liquid comes to a boil, reduce the heat to medium-low and cook for about 5 minutes, until the ginger softens a bit.
Stir in the coconut milk and rice noodles; cook for about 3 minutes, stirring occasionally, until the noodles are tender.
Increase the heat to medium-high. Stir in the carrots and cook for no more than 2 minutes; they should retain a little crunch.
Coarsely chop most of the coriander leaves, leaving a few of them whole. Add the chopped coriander to the saucepan. Cut the limes in half and squeeze their juice into the saucepan, then add the soy sauce and toasted sesame oil. Remove from the heat.
Divide among bowls, then garnish with the remaining whole coriander leaves. Any noodles and leftover soup in the pot will thicken upon standing; you can add more broth and reheat briefly to loosen it up.