pork ball and noodle soup

Life is all about balance and sometimes you just need to give your body something nutritious and tasty. This is especially true if you've just had a big slice of apple pie with cheddar cheese crust! This soup is very, very easy to make, incredibly healthy and best of all it's delicious. If you can't get hold of the wood ear mushrooms where you are by all means substitute another kind such as oyster mushrooms. Equally if you can't track down egg tofu, silken tofu will work perfectly well and is available in pretty much every supermarket in the UK.

Ingredients serves 2

250g lean pork mince

1 tube egg tofu cut into slices

2 handfuls of wood ear mushrooms

bunch of coriander with the roots (if possible)

1 tsp ground white pepper

small bunch spring onions

1 litre water or good quality chicken stock

100g glass noodles (uncooked) or 200g shiritaki noodles (1 packet)

1 tbsp soy sauce

couple of handfuls of chopped white or chinese cabbage (or similar)

Chilli paste, lime wedges and extra soy sauce to serve

1. Mix together the pork mince, white pepper, soy sauce and finely chopped coriander root in a bowl.
2. In a large sauce pan bring the water or stock to a gentle boil then make small balls out of the pork mixture and place in the stock.
3. Gently simmer for 5-10 minutes or until the pork balls are cooked through. The add the mushrooms, cabbage, noodles, spring onions, chopped coriander leaves and egg tofu and cook for a further 3-5 minutes. Take care when stirring and try not to break up the tofu too much. 
4. Serve with chilli paste, lime wedges and extra soy sauce to taste.