Hot and Sour Noodle Soup

Measure 200 g dried noodles. Trim, wash and halve 4 small bok choy heads lengthwise. Mince 3 garlic cloves and finely slice 2 spring onions. Set out 8 g ground chili, 5 g toasted sesame, 30 ml black vinegar, 20 ml light soy sauce, 4 g sugar and 30 ml cooking oil.

Start heating 2000 ml water in the noodle pot. In a separate skillet, heat 10 ml cooking oil over medium heat. Crack in 2 eggs, lower to medium-low and fry for about 3–5 minutes until the whites and yolks are set and the edges are golden. Remove and keep warm.

Divide all the garlic, spring onion, 8 g ground chili and 5 g toasted sesame between two dry heatproof noodle bowls. Heat the remaining 20 ml oil in a small pan until shimmering but not smoking. Remove from the heat and test a small drizzle: it should sizzle immediately. Divide the oil over the aromatics and stir. Remake any base that quickly blackens or smells burnt.

Stir 15 ml black vinegar, 10 ml light soy sauce and 2 g sugar into each bowl until the sugar dissolves. Keep this as a shallow concentrated base; do not add noodles, greens or eggs yet.

Add all 200 g noodles to the boiling water, separate gently and cook by the packet. About 1 minute before they are done, add all 8 bok choy halves. Cook until the stalks are just tender, the leaves deep green and the noodles have no raw center. Remove the greens early if they finish first. Keep a gentle boil to avoid overcooking.

Before draining, measure 600 ml hot noodle cooking water. Stir 300 ml into each bowl to turn the concentrate into a translucent reddish-brown broth. Do not pour all the pot water into the bowls.

Drain excess water from the noodles and greens and divide them evenly between the bowls, with 4 bok choy halves and 1 fried egg per serving. Finish one bowl first, then gently slide the second portion of noodles from a strainer into the other bowl of broth. Add its greens and egg last. Serve immediately and discard the remaining boiling water.