Wednesday, July 17, 2013

Something Yum - chicken ginger soup


Hello! 
The other day I made this soup, and it was very delicious, so I thought I would share the recipe with you all.. Are you a soup person?  I definitely am.  Some people I know don't consider soup a meal, I just can't agree!  Maybe I just have such massive bowls of soup that it becomes a meal sized serve.  

Anyway, my boss gave me this recipe for Chicken Ginger Soup, he is a real ginger fan, it has so many great health benefits ( Google it if you are interested, it really is good for you!), and it gives this soup a lovely heat that is more subtle than just chilli.   

It is a thin, brothy type soup so would be good as a starter for an Asian feast, or I just have a bowlful for lunch and feel very healthy, like I've done something good for my body. ( And believe me, my body needs a lot of positive work at the moment, I have not been treating it like a temple!)

So here's the recipe!



Healing Chicken Ginger Soup

For the Broth:
2 bone-in free-range chicken breasts (about 1kg total)
8 cups water
1 large onion, chopped
3 stalks celery, chopped
1 large carrot, chopped
1 whole head garlic, cut in half cross-wise
1/4 to 1/2 cup finely chopped fresh ginger (or more!)
2 to 3 thai chiles, chopped or 1 teaspoon crushed red chili flakes
2 cups chopped shiitake mushrooms
1 stalk fresh lemongrass, chopped
Small bunch of coriander
1 teaspoon whole black peppercorns
3 teaspoons  sea salt

For the Soup:
1 medium onion, cut into crescent moons
3 to 4 stalks celery, sliced into diagonals
3 carrots, cut into matchsticks
2 to 3 cups sliced shiitake mushrooms
cooked chicken pulled from the bone and chopped
sea salt and freshly ground black pepper to taste

Optional Additions/Toppings:
rice noodles
chopped fresh basil
chopped fresh coriander
chopped fresh Thai green chilies
lime wedges

To make the broth, place all ingredients for broth into a 6 litre pot. Cover and bring to a boil, reduce heat medium-low and simmer for 1 1/2 to 2 hours. Strain broth into a large bowl or another pot using a colander. Place chicken breasts onto a plate to cool. Pour the broth back into the pot. Once chicken is cooled, remove the skin, pull the meat from the bone and chop the chicken into bite-sized pieces.

Place all of the vegies for the soup (onion, carrot, celery, and shiitake mushrooms) into the pot with the broth. Cover and simmer for about 15 to 20 minutes. Add the chicken. Season with salt and pepper to taste. Simmer a minute or two more or until vegetables are cooked to your liking. Ladle soup into bowls and serve with a handful of basil, coriander, and cabbage on top. Sprinkle with thai chiles if desired. You can also add a handful of cooked thai rice noodles to each bowl if desired. Squeeze a little lime juice over each bowl.

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This is my pot full of the broth ingredients, ready to simmer away on the stove, no wonder this is packed with flavour! 
My only changes were that I used a whole chicken, instead of breasts on the bone, and I used dried shiitake mushrooms (found in the supermarket in the Asian section),  fresh ones are hard to find around here!

If you are feeling a bit under the weather, I think this is the soup for you!


Have you eaten anything delicious lately? 
Do you treat your body like a temple or do you give it a hard time like me? 
( I am starting to change this though!)


Back soon with a crochet update.
Have a great day!

7 comments:

  1. Hello Jules
    I am very much a soup person even in the boiling heat here. I just love gazpacho and other chilled soups. However I haven't tried a soup laced with ginger that's a new one for me. Many thanks for this recipe I'll have to give it a try.
    As to treating my body like a temple well....I am taking much more care now and trying to eat right as I have a lazy thyroid problem and I put on weight just by gulping down air so I've got to be careful.

    Good post

    keep well

    Amanda :-)

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  2. Sounds positively scrumptious!! Am tempted to try it out tonight.

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  3. I am definitely a soup person. I make it as a main course all the time. This looks very good, thanks for the recipe!

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  4. Looks delicious! I love ginger! Thanks for sharing the recipe!

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  5. Oh yum! I love making chicken soup from scratch like this - never added ginger though. I'm going to try this next time. Thanks!

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  6. Ah! This post made me so hungry!! I can't wait to try this recipe as it has all my favorite ingredients.
    I am trying to drink a lot more water and pay attention to healthy foods. I have these terrible weaknesses for potato chips and other salties. At the moment I am trying to curb this by drinking more water.

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  7. Soup, yay, love the stuff and this recipe looks delish Jules........
    Soup can most definitely be a meal in itself, I'm having some leek and potato soup for lunch.
    As for the temple thing.........I need to try harder, it's telling me it's not happy at the moment.
    Need to make some changes too, but it's hard in Winter, all you want is warming, comfort food......
    Hope you don't get blown away today with the windy/stormy weather predicted.....

    CLaire x

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Thank you for taking the time to add your comment, I love to receive comments and read them all, even if I don't get around to responding to you, I am just not that organised!