Seems like everyone I know is coming down with a cold or flu or some affliction this winter. When you are feeling particularly low, weak or feeble, comfort food is the order of the day. Hopefully if you can stomach something, the best known cure & comfort is in chicken soup. Health giving nutritious delicious soup. Something hot and soothing that feels like a warm cuddle. I recently discovered Chinese chicken and sweetcorn soup again. The take away version being a tad too gloopy for my palate [but still easy to accept], I decided to make a batch of my own at home. There are several on line recipes and they are fairly basic. I tried one recipe but had to adjust the seasoning to get it to taste like I remember from Chinese restaurants. So I have tweaked it to my taste. You can do the same - just keep tasting and adjusting the seasoning slowly to get it right.
Ingredients: This batch made enough for 3 hungry & poorly souls and there was left overs..
3 chicken thighs on the bone [skin and fat trimmed off]
A pint of chicken stock [homemade is great or else use an oxo cube]
A bunch of spring onions [finely sliced into rings and separate the white and the green parts]
1 can of unsalted sweetcorn [rinsed and drained]
1 tsp of cornflour dissolved in cold water [about 3 tablespoons]
1 large egg [gently beaten]
1 tsp of sesame oil
a small sprinkle of white pepper
3-5 tbsp of light Soya sauce
A pinch of sugar and salt [optional]
A tsp of rice vinegar [optional]
Method:
1. Simmer the chicken with the stock on a very low heat. Skim the scum off the top.
2. Add the whites of the spring onions
3. After 30 min remove the chicken and shred the meat and set aside, discard the bones
4. Add the cornflour mix and reduce the stock to a thicker consistency on a higher heat
5. Add the sweetcorn
6. Put the chicken back in and reduce the heat
7. Add Soya sauce, sesame oil and pepper
8. Taste and then adjust seasoning with increments of salt/sugar/vinegar until you are happy
9. Add the egg and stir well.
10. Take off the heat and sprinkle on the green part of the spring onions. Serve immediately.
I hope this tasty and simple concoction nurtures you back to health if you are suffering from the usual seasonal lurgy. Get well soon !
