Mum was visiting Bangalore last week and I was super excited to have her come stay with me, and show off my new-found domestic goddess skills. She treated it like she was going away to the woods on a camping trip asking me if I have towels and bedsheets (how does she think I've lived here for the last five months if I didn't?!) and should she bring a pillow?

But when she got here, it was mostly smooth sailing until she was slicing a baguette and turned to me and asked, "do you have a bread knife?" Sandya, my flatmate and I looked at each other and burst out laughing. It's a surprise we had any bread at home, let alone a bread knife.

Jibes aside, it was lovely to have her come cook in my kitchen. We made a bunch of things that I'm going to share with you over the next few weeks starting with this noodle soup. We don't really have a name for the soup, because it's sort of a throw-all-the-vaguely-asian-ingredients-in-your-pantry-together kind of soup, but you know what? It works.

Note: For a vegetarian option, use vegetable stock and substitute the chicken with shiitake mushrooms. Ideally, you’d serve the soup with soft boiled eggs, but if you have family members who are grossed out by soft-boiled eggs, you can hard boil them, like we’ve done here.

Miso Chicken Noodle Soup with Bok Choy

(Serves 3)

Ingredients

5 cups chicken/beef/vegetable stock
1 chicken breast, cut into ½-inch strips
200 g button mushrooms, sliced
200 g baby bok choy – sliced into ribbons
2 spring onions, thinly sliced without the white bulbs
1 tbsp white miso
2 soft boiled eggs
100 g egg noodles, boiled according to packet instructions
1 thai red chilli, cut diagonally into rings (optional)
1 tbsp soy sauce
a splash of sesame oi