Healthy is happy

When I gazed wistfully into my purse this evening, riding the Magic bus with my stomach rumbling unpleasantly, I was confronted with a lonely one pound coin, and reminded of that fact that I'd plundered all my monies on a completely unnecessary American Apparel purchase. I swore I'd never be able to spend money in that shop again without the luxury of my former staff discount, but they had a poly-cotton tie-dye t-shirt on sale I couldn't resist. Once again it looked like clothes would take precedent over dinner. However, then I remembered my favourite recipe for hard times, and one I also pull out for the curing of a lurg. I thought I'd share it with you as a gesture of goodwill. Here's my homemade lime and chilli noodle soup...

It smells and tastes much better than the grimey webcam picture does justice I swear

1. Fry an onion or two with some chopped garlic for 5-10 minutes until soft
2. When they're getting brown and delicious, throw in a dollop of curry paste (I used Patak's korma stuff - it's £1.70 a jar and has about 8-10 servings)
3. Boil up some el-cheapo vegetable stock in a pan
4. Squeeze the juice of a lime and grate some zest in too for extra punch
5. Add frozen peas and noodles
6. De-seed and chop up a small green or red chili (9p each from the Asian supermarket, holy bargain) and add that to the mix
7. Add your onions and leave everything to simmer for a couple of minutes, careful not to over do the peas
8. Chop up some coriander and leave it to swill
9. Voila! Serve with naan bread if you're hungry, or add coconut milk for some extra nourishment.