Hoisin noodles

Hoisin noodles is the secret to creating an easy, no-cook Chinese sauce to serve with these cheap and cheerful noodles. Cooking the noodles and spinach in the same pan helps cut down on washing up, too.

Ingredients

• 2 nests medium egg noodles
• 1 tbsp hoisin sauce
• 1½ tbsp soy sauce, plus extra for seasoning if needed
• ½ tsp toasted sesame oil
• 50g/1¾oz baby spinach
• 2 free-range eggs
• 2 large spring onions, thinly sliced
• salt
• toasted sesame seeds (optional), to garnish

Method for Hoisin noodles

1. Cook the egg noodles in a pan of boiling water with a pinch of salt, over a medium–high heat according to packet instructions, until tender.

2. Meanwhile, whisk together the hoisin, soy sauce and sesame oil to make the sauce. You might want to add an extra half tablespoon of soy sauce, depending on how much salt there is in the hoisin sauce.

3. Remove the noodles from the heat and add the spinach to the pan.

4. While the spinach is wilting, fry the eggs in a little oil in a non-stick frying pan over a high heat, taking care to ensure the eggs do not burn.

5. Drain the noodles and spinach well before returning them to the pan. Stir in the sauce and the spring onions. The spinach should contain enough residual water to help the sauce cover the noodles, but you can always add more of the reserved cooking water for a looser sauce. However, be careful not to make it too watery.

6. Divide the noodles between two bowls and top each with a fried egg. Sprinkle over the sesame seeds before serving, if using.

Hoisin noodles