Hearty Chicken Soup

By Allan Yap & Nigel A. Skelchy

It's been a long time since I blogged. My apologies to all. Perhaps I should have put up a note saying why but as those who read my blog regularly, you would know that it's been a rough 2008.

Inspiration was in short supply.

As life moves on however, it's obvious that I've always loved doing this and it's been something I've missed. As my food blogger friends remind me(you know who you are, awhiffoflemongrass.com, fatboyrecipes.blogspot.com, lecoupletoy.blogspot.com, lifeforbeginners.com)So to that end, here's my first new blog with the new look.

Hearty Chicken Soup

I decided that I would blog something I made as something to come back to blogging. Sitting around feeling under the weather, I decided I wanted some comfort food for dinner. Since I was going to be at home I made some for Dad as well.



Traditional chicken soup is made with a slow boiled stock; usually of chicken bones, water, a bouquet garni, carrots, celery, and an onion. Simmered on a low heat so bubbles hardly break the surface for about 6 to 8 hours. Having decided on this for dinner at 630pm however, I really couldn't see myself waiting till 230am before I had my stock to make the soup.

The secret is in the ground chicken meat. A lot more surface area and in 30 minutes you've got a passable stock.



Chicken for meat. Use the stock while it's boiling to cook this chicken. Then remove and cut it up. (More on that later)



I love the savoury taste of Bay Leaves. So that usually goes into my chicken soup. There are TWO batches of carrots, onions and celery. One for the stock. And one for the soup.



Here's the stock being made. Note the ground chicken and the carrots, onions, celery and bay leaves were sauteed before the canned chicken stock was poured in. If you DON'T have canned chicken stock on hand. Don't panic. Use water. And add in a teaspoonful of chicken bouillon powder (or cube) for every 500 ml of liquid. I used 2.5 l for the amount of ingredients above.



You could use cornflour as thickener or even use flour. Add more or less for the thickness you prefer. For the amount above, I used 2 Tablespoons which gave a thinner texture but unctuous enough for my needs. For greater richness, make a blond roux and use that instead. I also added potatoes in for extra heartiness.



When the stock is done, pour it into a sieve and press using the back of a wooden spoon to squeeze out every ounce of goodness. There's a lot of sweetness in there.



When you cut up the chicken (and/or pork) make sure it's a nice size. You want to have some texture.



The fork is there for scale.



Some leafy greens are good. Spinach is great, but over here I used choy sum.



And voila, hearty chicken soup for dinner.