• rich chicken stock (about 750ml)
• 2 or 3 Chinese dried mushrooms
• 4 whole dried chilies
• orange zest from one naval orange
• a good shot of ginger, sliced or julienned
• chicken stock powder (or salt), to taste
• freshly ground pepper, to taste
• ham and/or chicken, bitesize, to taste (optional)
• good shot of bok choy, chopped coarsely
• coarsely grated carrot, to taste
• green chilies, chopped
• toasted sesame oil
• firm tofu, cubed and fried (optional)
• coriander leaf or basil leaves as garnish (optional)

• 1 c semolina flour
• ½ c unbleached all-purpose flour
• 2 large eggs

1. Mix flours together. Stir eggs in with a fork. Knead with hands to form a ball. Cover tightly with plastic and allow to sit on counter for a couple of hours.
   
   
2. Put dough through handcrank pasta maker. Cut into thin spaghettini. Lay loosely on a tray. Sprinkle a little flour over top to keep it from sticking to itself.
   
   

3. Boil a small amount of water in a kettle. Rinse the mushrooms well and place in a small pyrex bowl. Pour boiling water over top, cover and leave on counter to soak for a couple of hours.
   
   
4. Put rich chicken stock, dried chilies, orange zest, ginger, chicken stock powder (or salt), pepper, ham and/or chicken into a pot. Bring to a boil and immediately reduce the heat to a low simmer.
   
   
5. Remove mushrooms from their bowl. Pour the soaking water into the stock. Slice the mushrooms and add to the soup pot.
   
   

6. In another large pot, boil well salted water. Add noodles cooking them until just before they are tender. Drain.
   
   
7. Add chopped bok choy to simmering soup. It takes no time to cook; you just want to heat it through.
   
   
8. Put the drained noodles into two soup bowls. Pour soup overtop (there should be LOTS of noodles). Drizzle with sesame seed oil and garnish with chopped green chillies, tofu and/or coriander leaf (cilantro) or basil. OR Add parcooked noodles to the soup in the pot. This keeps the noodles separate. Serve in bowls and drizzle each bowl with sesame seed oil and garnish with green chillies, etc.

This soup can be served to vegetarians by omitting the ham and chicken and using Vegetable Stock instead of chicken stock and vegetable stock powder or salt in place of the chicken stock powder.