Euro-Thai Noodle Soup

The first couple of dinners I spent with my Thai friend's family, her mother made a real effort to make "European" dishes for me (or what she thought traditional European food). Until I told her I don't need schnitzel and goulash every day.
Now when you live in the middle of nowhere, Asian groceries are not easy to get and we ended up having a lot of wannabe-Thai dishes with supermarket staples, including many many noodle soups.

This is my favourite and the dish that first got me into cooking when I was 15. It's not too exotic and easy to prepare, yet doesn't use fancy ingredients and it's still authentic.
The trick is to really cook everything seperate, it's still very quick to finish, I promise!

you'll need (for 2 servings or one very hungry vegan):

• 1 square ramen/chinese soup noodles (or spaghetti/linguine...)
• 1/4 block of tofu, finely diced
• 2 garlic cloves
• 1/2 red chili, cut into fine rings
• 2 cups vegetable broth
• 1 cup mung bean sprouts

garnish:

• 2 tbs chopped parsley
• crushed peanuts
• sugar
• chopped spring onions
• chili powder/ pickled Thai chilis

1.) Saute the tofu in a small saucepan until slightly browned, then take out of the pan and set aside.
2.) Same saucepan- bring some water to a boil and cook the noodles. Take them out.
3.) Quickly saute the garlic and chili, add broth and bring to a boil.
4.) Now assemble your bowls- first bean sprouts, then noodles, then tofu and ladle the broth on top eventually.

Serve with small bowl of all of the garnishes and enjoy :) I like mine with lots of chili and sugar!