I’ve been following the 20-day online cooking school that’s going on at ‘The Kitchn.’ The lessons have been and full of useful information and tips on how to improve basic cooking skills. Even if you are an expert cook, these lessons serve as a refresher and reminder of why things are done the way they are in the kitchen.

So far, we’ve covered a wide range of subjects ranging from knife skills to cooking with varied ingredients such as tofu and tempeh, whole grains, etc. Today’s topic is related to boiling and simmering – those two terms that are perhaps the most commonly used ones in most recipes. One of the practice sessions mentioned in today’s lesson involves poaching an egg.

Having never poached an egg since leaving cooking school, I thought this would be a good moment to make the udon soup with bok choy and poached egg recipe on the website as lunch for myself and get some practice in the process. The only two things I did different was to add some extra firm tofu and to poach the egg separately.

A perfectly simple and quick dish to make, with the help of just a few ingredients, you can have a steaming bowl of soup ready in minutes – great for those hurried days when you don’t want to spend too much time fussing over dinner.

Here are the steps –

1. Shred some fresh bok choy into ribbons. Crack an egg into a measuring cup and set aside. Bring about two cups of chicken or vegetable broth to the simmer in a saucepan. Add a whole star anise to the broth for additional flavour. At the same time, fill about two thirds of a small saucepan with water and bring it to a boil.

2. Once the broth starts to simmer, add the bok choy and the contents of a pack of ready to use udon noodles and cook for 2-3 minutes.

3. In the meantime, once the pan of water comes to a boil, add about two tablespoons of vinegar to it and swirl the liquid with the end of a wooden spoon to create a vortex. Gently slip in the egg and let it cook for two minutes. If you’d like the yolk to be a little firmer than runny, cook for an extra minute.

4. Once done, remove the egg from the pan with a slotted spoon and set aside. Turn the heat off the pan with the soup and add about half a cup of diced extra firm tofu and about a tablespoonful of light soy sauce. Ladle the soup into a bowl. Top it with the egg and sprinkle the top with salt and pepper. Enjoy immediately!