Lemongrass & Broccoli Asian Noodles

This dish sits somewhere between an Asian noodle dish and a soup making it the perfect meal-in-one. Something warm to keep away the cold, but zippy enough to bring a taste of early spring.

The versatile coriander paste is delicious and zingy and can be used to add flavour to homemade curries, veggie burgers, satay noodle stir fries and easy asian fried rice.

You can freeze the paste so I urge you to make a double batch to freeze.

Once the paste is made the soup can be ready in just 15 minutes, making it the perfect midweek supper

I like to use brown rice vermicelli noodles, but you could use any sort of rice noodle, or even rice for that matter. Serve it with rice and it could be a curry, or omit the noodles and make it a soup.

It is fresh, flavourful and reheats well too. Serves 2 as a main or 4 as a starter

Getting Ahead: To keep the texture fresh and crunchy I feel the soup would be best served straight away.

Seasonal Swaps: You can use any spring vegetables that you have, fennel, radishes and turnips would work well, just add to the start with the celery. Any baby vegetables would work well.

The addition of smoked tofu would work wonders in the soup. For a quick topping, I toasted some cashew nuts in a pan until golden followed by 1 tablespoon each of black and white sesame seeds which I toasted until fragrant.

A food processor to blend the paste and a medium saucepan (I used a wide saucepan).

• 1 tablespoon toasted sesame oil 
• 1 teaspoon turmeric 
• 1 teaspoon ground coriander 
• ½ teaspoon cumin 
• 1 x 400ml coconut milk 
• 1 cup water 
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 230g broccolini, trimmed and halved 
• 150g cooked noodles of choice 
• 1 cup frozen peas 
• reserved coriander to garnish 

Paste: 

• 1 bunch coriander, some reserved for topping 
• 1 green chilli, deseeded
• 2 garlic cloves, peeled 
• 2 lemongrass, soft inner part only (see kitchen note) 
• 40g ginger 
• zest of lime juice 
• 2 tablespoons toasted sesame oil 

1. Add all the paste ingredients in a food processor and whizz until a rough paste forms.
2. Heat the sesame oil in a saucepan on a medium heat, add the paste and stir until fragrant, 3 minutes. Add the turmeric, coriander and cumin and stir until fragrant, about 3 minutes.
3. Add the coconut milk, salt and water to the saucepan and bring to a gentle simmer.
4. Add the broccolini and simmer gently for 5 minutes until tender but still have a bite to it.
5. Add the peas and cooked noodles and gently simmer for 3 minutes until the noodles and peas are warmed through.
6. Season with salt, ginger and a squeeze of lime juice if needed. Sprinkle the coriander over.
7. To serve, swirl the noodles into warmed bowls and top with the sauce. Enjoy!