Pork & Cabbage Bee Hoon

The other day I was staring into the fridge, craving comfort, and my gaze was returned by a random assortment of half-used veggies and a small pack of sliced pork belly. It wasn't enough food to make a stir-fry for three, and I really didn't feel like making a last-minute run to the store. 

Thankfully an open pack of bee hoon came to the rescue out of the pantry. Bee hoon is a thin rice noodle (sometimes called vermicelli) that rehydrates and cooks in minutes. Its superpower is the ability to absorb flavors like a sponge. 

I paired it with some umami-packed dried shiitake mushrooms, sweet onions, and red cabbage and turned the soaking liquid from rehydrating the shiitakes into a flavorful broth to cook the noodles in. Along with the pork belly from the fridge, the combination covers all the macronutrients, making it a satisfying 1-pan meal you can throw together from odds and ends, along with a few pantry staples.

It does have a lot of components, but don't let that scare you away because most of them are substitutable, and the preparation itself is super simple.