Easy Brown Rice Vermicelli Noodles With Fresh Shiitake Mushrooms

Gather the ingredients.

Heat broth (if making it from cubes, simply mix cubes with boiling water in a glass measuring cup or bowl).

Add eggs and stir until yolks break and cook (more or less dissolve) in broth.

Stir in fish sauce, vegetarian fish sauce, or soy sauce. Set aside. If using tofu, stir soft tofu into broth as you would with eggs.

Place a wok or large frying pan (it should be quite deep) over medium-high heat. Add oil and swirl around. Then add garlic, chile, and cooking onion. Stir-fry 1 minute, or until fragrant. Whenever wok/frying pan becomes dry, add a tablespoon of wine/sherry or broth instead of more oil. 

Add mushrooms and continue stir-frying another 2 minutes, or until mushrooms have softened.

Add white pieces of bok choy and stir-fry another minute or two, until softened.

Now add broth-egg (or broth-tofu) mixture you made earlier, plus bok choy greens, stirring to combine.

When this soup-like mixture starts to bubble, reduce heat to medium and add noodles. Don't worry if noodles look as if they're just "floating" on top. Using a spoon or spatula, press them down into broth, then gently turn them over and do the same with the other side. Gradually they will soften down into hot liquid and separate.

As the noodles soften, continue to turn and mix them over medium heat using a tossing motion (almost as if you were tossing a salad) until all the broth has been absorbed. Do this gently, as the noodles are very thin and tear easily.

When all the broth has been absorbed (after about 5 minutes), turn off heat and add bean sprouts and sprinkle over black or white pepper. Again, toss noodles to mix these ingredients in.

Taste-test noodles. If they need more salt, sprinkle one more tablespoon of fish sauce, vegetarian fish sauce, or soy sauce over noodles and toss to combine. Do this until desired taste is achieved.

If too salty for your taste, squeeze 1 to 2 tablespoons fresh lime or lemon juice over noodles and toss to combine. (Note: The saltiness of your noodles will depend on how salty your broth was to start with, so you may have to adjust accordingly.)

To serve: Portion out noodles onto individual plates and top each with a sprinkling of cilantro, plus a wedge of fresh lime, or heap all the noodles onto a large serving platter. Sprinkle with fresh coriander and add lime wedges around the sides and thinly sliced bird's eye chili. If desired, serve with Thai chili sauce on side.