Chicken Soup

Chicken soup is for the soul. You don’t have to be sick or the weather doesn’t have to be cold. A healthy light soup as starter is okay anytime. Or you can skip the dinner after the soup.

My struggle with making a perfect soup is a long story. After so many trial and errors I realized, taste is important. Of course taste is important, duh! What I mean is the good amount of vinegar, salt, green chilli and red chilli sauce flavor. Many of the recipes out there are too bland for my Indian taste buds. But, if you like your soup plain, no worries. Adjust the taste as per your liking.

Whenever sorting out the chicken, I keep the boney part of the chicken like the neck and ribcage aside for making the stock of the soup. This gives stronger flavor than chicken breasts. The chicken pieces are boiled in water for 15-20 minutes for the liquid to reduce and make stock.

The wonderful aroma of butter and spring onions is heartwarming.

I don’t use cornflour for this recipe. This is a thin soup. For slight thickening purpose I use a tbsp of powdered oats. For a better flavor, you can puree 1 tbsp of mushroom or 1 tbsp of fresh corn kernels and add to the stock. 

This recipe makes 2 bowls of soup. One serving provides approximately 271 Calories.

Here is what you’ll need:

2-3 pieces of chicken in bones

2 spring onions with leaves

1 tbsp powdered oats/ pureed mushroom/ pureed corn

1 inch ginger

1 tbsp butter

4-5 whole peppercorns

4 cups water

2 tsp vinegar

1 tsp green chilli sauce

1 tsp red chilli sauce

1 tsp light soy sauce

1 tsp Worcestershire sauce (Optional)

½ tsp black pepper powder

Salt as per taste

1 egg

Method:

1. In a large pot, melt the butter. Sauté finely chopped ginger and spring onions. Add the peppercorns.
2. To this add the whole cleaned chicken pieces.
3. Add 4 cups of water.
4. Once the water boils, simmer for 15-20 minutes.
5. Remove the chicken, shred the meat and discard the bones.
6. Add the shredded meat to the stock.
7. Finely powder the oats and add to the soup.
8. Add the rest of the flavourings.
9. Adjust the seasonings and salt as per your taste.
10. Increase the flame, and to the boiling soup, add a beaten egg with the help of a spoon.
11. Garnish with spring onion leaves and serve hot.

Recipe by Zohra Sada