If you’ve found this page through Instagram or you know me in Real Life then you might be aware I’ve been doing rather a lot of running.  A few weeks ago I ran the Great North Run and smashed my target time… And then… well…

Life happened.  I was knackered.  And then I got a bug and couldn’t eat for a few days. And then I stopped sleeping well.   And then.  And then.  Yeah.  Life happened.  Meh. Day after day of ‘meh’.

So I found myself on a miserable Manchester evening, feeling decidedly sorry for myself. I needed a cure and I needed it fast. I listened to my body.  And my body was saying: give me Wagamamas.

But I didn’t have time or funds to be jetting off to Wagamamas (would that I could.  Wagamamas is bae.) .  And it was raining. Because: Manchester.

So I made my own.  And it made me feel so much less ‘meh’ that I thought I’d share it with you.  You can make it as fancy as you like with homemade stock and genuine shitake mushrooms.  Or you can use a stock cube and buy a rotisserie chicken and use those 20p noodles from the pot noodle aisle (but don’t use the flavour sachet!)

Serves 3

Ingredients:

• A knob of butter or a splash of oil
• Thumb sized piece of ginger, grated
• 3 garlic cloves
• Half a chilli
• 3 tbsp soy sauce
• 2 tsp sugar
• 1.5 litres chicken stock (homemade or use stock-pot jelly things or even a stock cube)
• Two handfuls of mushromms, slice (shitake if you can get them, chestnut if not)
• 1 tin of bamboo shoots (optional)
• 3 handfuls of bean sprouts
• 3 big handfuls spinach
• 3 noodle nests (I bought cheapo 20p noodles from the pot-noodle aisle and just chucked away the flavour sachet.)
• 3 eggs
• 3 Spring onions, thinly sliced.
• Cooked chicken, as much or as little as you like, shredded or sliced. I just bought a rotisserie chicken from Tesco and used some of that.

Method

1. On a very low heat, melt the butter in a large pan (or gently heat the oil).
2. Add the grated ginger, garlic and chilli to the pan and stir for about 30 secs.  Don’t let them catch or it’ll all taste a bit bitter
3. Add the soy sauce and sugar and stir it all together.
4. Add your hot stock, bring to the boil and then turn down to a simmer.
5. Throw in your mushrooms and bamboo shoots if using.  Keep the temperature quite low.
6. Boil a kettle of water.  Once boiled pour into a small pan and bring to the boil again.
7. Once boiling, gently lower the eggs into the pan and set a timer (I use my phone) for 5 and a half minutes.
8. When your 5 and a half minutes is up take the eggs out of the pan and run under cold water.
9. Add your bean sprouts and noodles to the soup pan.
10. Peel your eggs – they should have a slightly soft yolk.
11. Pop your spinach in the pan, stir and then serve up your soup into bowls. (The spinach only needs a second or two in the pan to wilt.
12. Top with spring onions, cooked chicken and your newly peeled egg, sliced in half.

To heighten the curative properties follow with a bath and/or the Holy Trinity of PJ’s, Tea and Radio 4.

Trust me.  I’m a nurse.