This recipe is by Alison Roman and comes from The New York Times. It is incredibly rich and savoury, and works with pretty much any vegetables or noodles you want to throw in.

I tried a slightly different notation for this recipe, based on one of Nigel Slater's cookbooks.

Ingredients

canola or olive oil, garlic, shallots or onion, salt and pepper, mixed mushrooms, fresh chillies, soy sauce, rice wine vinegar, noodles, soft herbs (parsley, coriander, etc.), sesame seeds, sesame oil.

Method

Heat 3 tablespoons oil in a large, heavy-bottomed pot or Dutch oven over medium heat. Add 4 thinly sliced garlic cloves and ** 2 large thinly sliced shallots**, and season with salt and pepper. Cook, stirring occasionally, until shallots start to turn a nice golden brown, 3 to 4 minutes. Add 500g mixed mushrooms and a thinly sliced chilli, and season with salt and pepper.

Cook, stirring occasionally, until the mushrooms have softened, released much of their water and turned a deep golden brown, 10 to 15 minutes.

Add 1/2 cup soy sauce, ¼ cup vinegar and 8 cups of water. Bring to a gentle simmer and season with salt and pepper. Continue to simmer until the flavors have melded and the broth tastes good enough to drink, 15 to 20 minutes. Season with more soy sauce and vinegar as you like.

Meanwhile, cook 250g noodles in a large pot of salted boiling water until just al dente. Add the noodles to the pot with the broth, and let them hang out in there for a minute or two to finish cooking and soak up all that flavor.

To serve, use tongs to divide the noodles and mushrooms among bowls, then ladle the hot broth over the top. Serve with another sliced chilli, 2 cups of soft herbs and sesame seeds and sesame oil for people to dress their own bowls to their liking.