Moon-viewing noodles is best known as a simple Japanese soup containing a raw egg that lightly cooks in the hot broth. This version of moon soup was cooked by a wizened old man, who, with his wife, runs a soup (pho) stall in Sapa market. Sapa sits in the shadow of Fansipan, a mountain in the far north of Vietnam, right on the border with China. The soup was divine - the chicken stock the best and the eggs really, really fresh.

Ingredients:

8 oz thick
1 quart
11/2 tbsp
12/3 cups
2
4

dried egg noodles (ramen)
chicken stock
soy sauce
bean sprouts
scallions, sliced diagonally
eggs
salt and pepper

Method:

1. Bring a saucepan of water to a boil and cook the dried noodles for 3-4 minutes or until just done. Drain well and divide between 4 soup bowls, making a nest in the center of each one.

2. Bring the stock to a fast simmer, add the soy sauce, and season with salt and pepper. blanch the bean sprouts and sliced scallions in boiling water for 1 minute. Pour the hot stock over the noodles and immediately crack an egg into the center of each soup bowl. Top the soup with the blanched bean sprouts and scallions, and serve with a soup spoon and chopsticks. Just before eating, each diner mixes the egg into the soup to help it cook.

Serves 4