Once again, this is a healthy way to use whatever veg you happen to have in your fridge. You can of course add some meat or even prawns or fish but I have kept this version veggie. I put some cooked rice in the bottom of the bowl and poured the soup over to bulk it up but noodles would work just as well. For those 5:2 days you can have it without any starch as a simple soup.

Ingredients

– about a cup of cooked rice

– small pack of asparagus, halved lengthways

– 4 pieces of baby sweetcorn, halved lengthways

– 3 baby fennel, sliced thinly on the angle. I used the long stem bits – but they were a bit chewy, so I’d discard them next time.

– The left overs of a pack of sugarsnap peas and some carrot! I sliced the carrots thinly to cook rapidly in the wok.

– handful of frozen peas.

– red pepper – sliced thinly on the angle.

– 500mls of vegetable stock. I confess that I use the Knorr vegetable stock pot and make it up in boiling water.

– teaspoon of crushed garlic

– teaspoon of crushed ginger

– teaspoon of crushed lemongrass – for all 3 of the above, I use little jars of paste which I keep in the fridge. Be careful which one you buy – some have a lot more additions than others.

– 2 teaspoon fulls of sesame oil

– 1-2 tablespoon fulls of soy sauce

– some chopped red chilli (again, I buy a pack of fresh chili’s, mince them up and freeze them in a small container and scrape a bit off whenever I need them)

Method

Make up the stock in 500mls of boiling water and add the garlic, ginger and lemongrass paste and the soysauce, sesame oil and chilli. Stir well and set aside.

Add a little vegetable oil to a hot wok and stir fry all the veg with the exception of the peppers and the peas. The aim is to keep the wok really hot and get a little bit of colour on to some of the veg without really cooking them too much. About 60s should be enough.

Pour the stock into the wok and add the peas. Allow the broth to come to the boil gently stirring from time to time. Once it boils, turn off the heat and add the peppers and mix in.

You could add a little coriander now, but I had none.

Heat the plain rice in the microwave and divide between two large bowls. Divide the vegetables between the two bowls with a pair of tongs and ladle or pour the broth over it.

Serve steaming hot while the veg is still fresh and crunchy.

You can prep the veg,cooked rice and stock in advance and then just stir fry and add the stock when you are ready to eat – it only takes a couple of minutes that way.