Home-made Instant Pot Noodle

Almost instant anyway; it does take fractionally longer than peeling a foil lid off a tub, but on the plus side it's completely good for you and contains no additives, preservatives or any other dodgy unknowns.

It is the perfect alternative to a sandwich for lunch in this cold damp weather and wont take much longer to prepare. 

You will need:

Any of the following vegetables:

Carrots

Sweet potato

Frozen peas

Peppers

Bean sprouts

Beetroot

Spring onion

Spring cabbage

Pak choi

Spinach

Sweetcorn (tinned or frozen)

Mushrooms

Fennel

Celery

Fresh parsley, basil, thyme

Cellophane/bean thread or rice noodles (or precooked vacuum packed noodles - ramen are nice)

Stock cube/granules/pot (one bowl needs about half a stock cube)

Optional extras:

Concentrated tomato puree (the kind that comes in a tube)

Indian or Thai curry paste

Harissa

Pesto

Finely grated fresh ginger

The noodles can be found at very reasonable prices in your local Asian supermarket.

Entirely up to you what proportion of vegetables to noodles you go for - the veg can be the main part of the dish or just enough to keep your mother happy...

Cut the carrot in three longways and peel into very fine strips using a vegetable peeler. (Do the same if using beetroot or sweet potato).

Frozen peas and beansprouts can go in whole, any of the other veg will need to be finely sliced.

(This is one of the mostly-veg-few-noodles types: I used half a carrot, a handful of peas, a few slivers of fennel, about an eighth of a pepper and half a beef stock cube.)

Put the noodles in a separate bowl, cover with boiling water and leave until tender.  Cellophane noodles need about 5 minutes and rice noodles about 10 minutes.  They are slightly interesting to try and break and get into the bowl, there is now a delicate sprinkling of noodles all over my kitchen...

Add the stock cube and any further flavours to the vegetables, cover with boiling water and leave for 10 minutes.  Add the noodles to the veg, stir well and eat!

New combinations to explore: one small teaspoon of tomato puree and a large teaspoon of pesto,

curry paste (to taste) and a tablespoon of dessicated coconut/splash of coconut milk,

pak choi, beansprouts, tinned bamboo shoots, grated ginger, splash of lime juice and soy sauce.

 You could add a poached egg or some finely sliced ham or salami for a more substantial meal.

To transport this/use as a packed lunch you can prepare the veg and the noodles in advance and put them in a kilner jar or sturdy tupperware, then all you need to do is add boiling water at lunch time!