This is a easy Hong Kong style dish that my mom use to make for lunch on weekends or if I was at home sick. The ingredients are simple: broth, elbow macaroni, some meat (leftovers from dinner or Spam), some veggies (whatever’s around). Sometimes she would fry an egg and put that on top. Eating this makes me relive afternoons watching reruns of Who’s the Boss under a blanket in the middle of the day. Which is basically what heaven looks like for busy adults.

Ingredients

Serves 1

• 1.5 cups of broth (click to see my recipe)
• 1 serving of elbow macaroni, cooked according to package
• 1 serving of some kind of meat (leftover bbq duck in the photo)
• 1 serving of some kind of green veggies (swiss chard in the photo)

Let’s do it!

At home:

1. Heat the broth to a low simmer on the stove.
2. Add the meat and veggies to the broth until heated through, maybe 3 minutes.
3. Add the macaroni and heat through for 1 minute.

   

4. Pour this all in a bowl and eat. Seriously, that’s it.

At work:

1. While cooking the pasta, blanch the veggies in the water for the last minute. Put these into a container. Place the meat and the soup in a separate, spill-proof container. This keeps the pasta from soaking up the soup and getting soggy, and the veggies from getting overcooked later.
   
2. When you’re at work, heat up the soup and meat and pour over the veggies and pasta. I keep a large soup bowl at work for this specific type of thing. I also keep cutlery, a little bottle of fish sauce, hot sauce, olive oil and vinegar but THAT’S NOT IMPORTANT RIGHT NOW. The pasta and veggies will heat up from the warmth of the soup in a couple of minutes.
3. Bask in the jealousy of your coworkers.