Sunday, November 20, 2011

Chicken Soup... from the Soul

I've always been scared of making chicken soup from scratch cos I thought it takes ages to make and just seems complicated - but I was wrong!   I did some searching online, got a few pointers from my mum and decided to make my very own soup for the first time.... surprisingly, it turned out great on my first try!
There was one thing I was right about though: it does take a LONG time until it's ready to eat, but it's worth it in the end!  Here's what you'll need for my chicken soup:





  • One whole chicken
  • Carrots (peeled and diced)
  • Sweet potatoes (Peeled and diced)
  • One large white onion (chopped)
  • Seasoning (you can use your own seasoning mix/poultry seasoning - I just used Salt and Cinnamon)
  • Noodles (egg noodles, or regular spaghettini pasta)



1.  Rinse chicken under water, and place in large soup pot (which I did not have, so I used two regular 
     pots)

2. Fill pot with water to cover most, if not all, of the chicken (just over 3 L of water)... add 2 tbsps of salt. (Since I used two regular pots, I placed half a chicken in each and 1 tbsp of salt in each). 

3. Bring to a boil, then reduce heat and simmer for around 2 to 4 hours (I usually don't bother timing   
    after 2 hours - just make sure chicken is tender and falling off the bone)

4. Remove chicken from broth and set aside to cool. 

5. Pour carrots and onion into the broth and bring back to a boil.  Add seasoning and simmer for about an hour.

6. While soup is simmering, pull apart the cooled chicken meat into strips/pieces (remember to remove the skin too!)

7.  Add the sweet potatoes, noodles and chicken meat back into the soup and boil for around 15-20 minutes until the pasta and potatoes are tender. 

8.  Remember to taste the broth to see if it needs more seasoning (which it usually shouldn't because you added enough salt at the beginning... but it's up to you!

9. Serve, and enjoy! 

P.S.  Unfortunately,  I didn't take pictures during the process... these pics of the left over soup were taken the next day (we had 3 tupperwares full!).  I will be sure to take pictures of each step next time I make this soup and will update this post when I do, so remember to check back if you'd like to see that! :)





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