This chicken rice noodle soup recipe is perfect for cold rainy days. Known as ‘Bouillon meefoon’, it is often made by Chinese-Mauritian families as a staple and comfort food. The ingredients can also be substituted as per your liking.
Chicken rice noodle soup recipe / Bouillon meefoon
Ingredients
- 500 g rice vermicelli noodles Koon moon (brand)
- 600 g chicken (sliced) breast, thigh or tenders
- 70 g baby corn (sliced) 4 baby corn sticks
- 100 g carrot (julienne) 1 medium carrot
- 2 baby bok choy tom pouce
- 1 tbsp spring onion (chopped)
- 2 slices ginger
- 1 tbsp light soy sauce
- 2 tsp tapioca starch or corn starch
- 1 tsp chicken powder (optional) Lee kum kee (brand)
- white ground pepper
- salt
Instructions
- Place the rice vermicelli noodles in a large bowl or container. Add enough water to cover the noodles and let it soak for at least 30 minutes or until they are completely rehydrated and soft (we used the 'Koon moon rice stick' brand for this recipe).
- Slice the chicken thinly and put in a large bowl for marinating. Add 1Tbsp of light soy sauce and a pinch of white ground pepper to the chicken, mix well to combine. Then add 2tsp of tapioca starch to the marinated chicken and mix well until well combined. Set chicken aside for later.
- Wash and roughly chop the baby bok choy then set aside. Also finish cutting and preparing the other ingredients before starting cooking.
- In a large cooking pot, pour 3.5L of water. Add 2 slices of ginger, 1tsp of chicken powder (optional), 1tsp of white ground pepper and 2tsp of salt then mix well. On high heat, bring the water to a simmer (about 5 minutes).
- Add the chicken slices little by little to the water making sure they don't stick together. Then give a good stir to spread the chicken. Let the chicken cook for about 10 minutes on medium high heat and bring the water to a boil.
- Add the carrots and baby corn to the pot, stirring well to combine. Let the water simmer and cook for another 5 minutes.
- Strain and drain the soaking water from the rice noodles. Then add the rice noodles to the pot, stirring well to make sure the noodles are completely submerged into the water. Cook for 2 minutes only! (make sure not to cook the noodles longer as it will become too soft and will absorb more water than required)
- Finally, add the baby bok choy into the soup and stir well. Immediately after, turn off the heat. Taste and adjust the seasoning as desired.
- Served hot with a fried egg and chilli paste, enjoy!
Video
tips
- Make sure to choose the right noodles. We used the ‘Koon Moon’ brand of ‘Rice Stick’ which is thicker than regular rice vermicelli noodles.
- Instead of soaking the rice noodles, you can also blanch them in boiling water then cool them down in cold water.
- You can substitute any ingredients except from the rice noodles as per your liking. It is common to add prawns/shrimp and Chinese sausages to the soup.
- The chicken powder adds flavor to the soup. It can also be substituted by fish sauce.
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