Udon with leftover chicken and baby broccoli in an all-purpose noodle sauce

Mix the all-purpose noodle sauce: two parts soy sauce, one part black vinegar or rice wine vinegar, a half part oyster sauce or honey; store in the fridge.

Pour some out into a bowl and add crushed garlic, a little ginger, sesame oil and a pinch of Thai red chili flake.

Optionally mix one part cornstarch with two parts water in a separate bowl to thicken the sauce for hot noodles.

Bring a pot of water to a boil with a little spoonful of miso paste.

Cook the noodles as the package says, four minutes here, blanching the sliced broccoli in the same water.

Drain the noodles; heat the wok over medium with a bit of oil and crisp up the chicken until heated through.

Turn the heat to low, add the noodle sauce to simmer, and slowly drizzle in the cornstarch slurry to thicken so the sauce sticks; add more sauce for a saucier result.

Variation: cold noodles from the fridge tossed with cherry tomatoes, scallion and shredded carrot and the same sauce with garlic, ginger, sesame oil and chili flake.

Toss in the noodles and broccoli, turn off the heat and stir until evenly coated.

Serve in a bowl and garnish with scallions, or anything or nothing.