Egg Noodles With Soy Broth

This dish is about as close to fusion, to “made-up,” as I will allow. It’s not traditional, it’s not regional. Though it has an Asian flavor, it’s not even that. What it is: a tasty, fast, cheap, infinitely variable broth-and-noodle combination. Its preparation is slowed down only by waiting for the water to boil.

A key ingredient is ketchup; if you can’t bear that thought, you can use tomato paste instead. There’s also sriracha, the Southeast Asian hot sauce; and soy sauce; vinegar; and sesame oil, all of which add character. The noodles I use are fresh egg pasta, but just about any kind of noodle can be used. You can’t get much more flavor out of a dish whose main ingredient is water.

Once you’ve made this once, you’ll probably want to take it to a showier place. Cook thinly sliced shallot, ginger or garlic in a little peanut oil before adding the water for the “broth,” or add sliced celery, bean sprouts, snow peas or sliced carrots to it. Switch to rice noodles, soba, ordinary dried pasta or mung bean threads if you like.

Crank up the heat under the broth and cook sliced (or leftover) chicken, pork, beef, Chinese sausage, shrimp, tofu or egg in it. Garnishes are obvious: scallions, cilantro, toasted sesame seeds or chopped peanuts come to mind. There’s another option here, with one less pot: cook the noodles, then remove them. Use their water to make the broth. It will be cloudier but a bit more flavorful. As I said, this will not win any awards for authenticity. But it might just become a staple.