I’ve been struggling with ideas for lunch recently – as the weather’s gotten cooler, I’ve been trying to think of things that could be eaten either cold or hot (thankfully we have an office microwave!). This fits the bill beautifully, and is also a great one to make in bulk – I usually make enough for two lunches, but you could make a whole week’s worth if you liked.

The instructions are split into ‘the night before’ and ‘in the morning’ to keep everything as fresh as possible, but if you prefer you can make the whole thing the night before, then in the morning just grab your tupperware and go!

Ingredients (serves 2):
– 120g wholewheat noodles
– 40g mangetout
– ½ red pepper, cut into strips
– 40g beansprouts
– 3 spring onions
– 2 tsp sesame seeds
– handful fresh coriander, roughly chopped

For the dressing:
– 1 tsp sesame oil
– 1 tsp olive oil
– 1 tsp soy sauce
– 2 tsp sweet chilli sauce
– 2 tbsp peanut butter
– juice ½ lime
– 1 clove garlic

The night before:
1. Cook the noodles according to the packet instructions, then drain. Lightly stir fry the mangetout, pepper and beansprouts for a few minutes, until just beginning to soften.
2. Whisk together the ingredients for the dressing until combined, then stir into the noodles and stir fried veg.

In the morning:
3. Finely chop the spring onions, then stir into the noodles along with the sesame seeds and fresh coriander. Divide between two lunch boxes.

Tip: to make this gluten-free, switch the wholewheat noodles for rice noodles and the soy sauce for tamari.