Japanese pineapple udon noodle soup

Preparation -- 10 minutes

Tip: Want to learn how to make your own basic chicken stock at home?

START by slicing the pineapple. To do this you must first slice off the outer layers of the pineapple and cut it in two. SLICE off any black spots and slice the tough white inner part.

SLICE the pineapple into bite-sized chunks after this. RINSE and finely slice the green bell pepper julienne (into strips). USING a potato peeler, remove the outer part of the carrots.

SLICE the carrots into thin, long strips. This method is also called julienne. JUICE 1/2 a lime using your citrus zester. CLEAN the chicken by removing any excess fat and blood, then dice the chicken breast too.

USING your chef's knife and cutting board, finely cut the fresh ginger into thin slices. 

Cooking the Japanese pineapple udon noodle soup -- 20 minutes

Add 4 tablespoons of salty soy sauce into the large pan. HEAT up over medium-high heat, add in the diced chicken and cook for 2-3 minutes. ADD in the sliced carrots and green bell pepper, cook for another 5 minutes while stirring gently.

POUR in the freshly squeezed lemon juice and add in the thin slices of fresh ginger. ADD in 1.5-litre chicken stock and turn up the heat, turn down the heat when it starts to boil.

You now have a nice soup in which you can boil the Japanese udon noodles. READ the package carefully to learn how to cook these noodles. We found that cooking them for 6-8 minutes will do the trick, this all depends on the thickness of the noodles.

Add in the pineapple about 2 minutes before serving the soup, this preserves all of the natural and delicious flavours in the pineapple.

Finally, season the soup with freshly ground salt, pepper and optionally a squeeze of hot sauce. Enjoy!