Thai Coconut Noodle Broth

I was going to have spaghetti for dinner tonight, I had it all prepared in my head, exactly what I fancied. However when I got round to making dinner I discovered that someone (who I will not name) ate my spaghetti for breakfast (with a tube of tomato puree!!). After a long day at college *sigh* I was feeling much to lazy to go out to the shops so looked for alternative dinners in the kitchen cupboards.

Spaghetti substitute :)

Sorry its a bad picture,
just wanted to show you
which brand I used.

I settled on something with noodles (because, in my head, they are somewhat like spaghetti... kind of). Rummaging in my cupboard with a Thai theme in mind I came across some Tom Yum Paste and created a recipe around these two ingredients.

I must say it came out rather well.

The ingredients for my noodle broth were as follows (for two people):

• Noodles enough for two (how much is up to you);
• 1 1/2 Mugs of water (you may need more);
• 3/4 Mug of coconut milk;
• Pinch of salt;
• Dash of soy sauce;
• Dash of lime juice;
• Chicken (diced) enough for two (again how much is up to you);
• 2-3 tsp of Tom Yum paste (Add these to taste as all pastes will be slightly different and everyone will like varying strength of flavours. Start with 2 then add more later to taste.)
• 2 Kaffir lime leaves
• 1/2 tsp sugar
• (You can also add any vegetables you fancy e.g. red pepper, broccoli, mangatout and baby sweetcorn. Just slice them thin and throw them in 7 mins before serving.)

What you do:

1. Pop the water into a pan and bring to the boil.
2. Break the noodles into smaller pieces (I broke them into thirds) and add to the water with the salt, soy sauce, lime juice and kaffir lime leaves.
3. When the noodles are cooked drain them BUT save the water and kaffir lime leaves as it will be used to make the broth.
4. Now depending on how much water boiled off as you were cooking the noodles you may need to add a bit more to the pan, this will depend on how thick you want the broth in the end. I left mine as it was. 
5. Add the tom yum paste, the coconut and the chicken to the water in the pan and turn down to a simmer. Leave for 12-15 minutes until the chicken is cooked through. (This may take longer depending on the size of your chicken chunks.)
6. If you are adding veg, pop it in the pan 10 minutes after the chicken.
7. To serve separate the noodles out into two bowls and empty out the chicken any broth evenly on top of them. 
8. Enjoy :)

Yum Yum :) - P.s. I didn't actually eat mine with chop sticks, I regret to say
I'm not that skilled.