Who needs to buy a pot-noodle when you can whip up your own nutritious version within 10 minutes?
It uses fresh, whole food ingredients (big healthy tick in the box), is extremely tasty, warm, filling and gluten-free.
All it requires you to do at work is add some boiling water straight from the kettle and leave to stand for a few minutes.
The prep at home is pretty simple: you make a flavour paste using easy to get store cupboard ingredients which are mixed together (miso paste, minced ginger and minced garlic).
This goes in the bottom of a heatproof kilner jar (or suitable clip-top pot-noodle-esque tub), followed by layers of: leftover cooked chicken, frozen peas, dried vermicelli rice noodles and lastly your sliced garnish (wrapped in a food bag or cling film to keep them fresh).
If you want to make more of these pots in advance, just multiply the recipe. Prepped pots will last about 4 days in the fridge and about 3 noodles pots should cost you under a fiver.
You can of course mince your own ginger and garlic from fresh, but this recipe is about making packed lunches easy, so I highly recommend having a pre-prepped jar of both in the fridge as they are inexpensive, save time and go a long way.
Vermicelli noodles work the best as are thin, so cook through well. Brown rice, whole grain vermicelli noodles are more nutritious and lower GI, but white rice noodles can be used.
Fresh herbs and chillies can also be substituted for dried varieties.
Also you don't need to follow my recipe word-for-word. The idea is to use up any leftovers in your kitchen. Add some salmon, cooked prawns or tofu instead of chicken, stuff in some more veggies (e.g broccoli florets or grated carrot), and play around with different flavour pastes (a peanut butter / red Thai curry paste would be incredible for example).
Healthy Homemade Pot Noodles
**Ingredients **
*Flavour paste *
*Rest of the pot ingredients *
-50g leftover, shredded cooked chicken
*Garnish *
Just before eating
-A dash of soy sauce (tamari is gluten-free)
Method
Mix all the ingredients for your flavour paste, and spoon into the bottom of your jar/pot.
Next layer up your jar with the frozen peas, chicken and noodles. Tuck the garnish wrapped in a food bag into the small space at the top of the jar.
When ready to eat, remove the garnish bag and pour over some freshly boiled water to near the top.
Close the lid to seal and steam your noodles for about 2 minutes - stir well- and seal for another minute.
Add a dash of soy sauce.
Eat! (chopsticks optional) :)
Like this? Then you might also be interested in:
How To Be Dairy Free Whether You're Allergic Or Just Fancy A Break From The Cow
Here's Your Next Healthy Under-A-Fiver Lunch To Make For This Week
Mukbang: South Korea Takes Instagramming Your Meal To Another Level
Follow Rosie on Twitter @GlutenFreeRosie and on her blog here.
This article originally appeared on The Debrief.