Chicken Soup

I was brought up in a century that soup happens to be the classic meal that can be well served for everyone. A toddler’s weaning food, a patient’s daily meal and admit it, we all know a family who is willing to opt for soup as their daughter’s wedding appetizer.  

I love how food heals people with its power. The slight smoke that comes up from a hot bowl of soup is strong enough to reduce any form of diseases (or even hangover!). Our ancestors have been recommending soup as a healthy treatment since day one. They undoubtedly stand by the theory that chicken based soup is the health-boosting hero should you feel the urge to comfort yourself under the weather.  

Back to the time when I was a little girl, mom used to take me to a small local restaurant where the creamy chicken soup was their best seller. I grew up remembering the scent of those tender chicken shredded along with the hot creamy broth and a hint of chopped mushroom. Inevitably, it became my one and only demand when a sore throat or a fever hits on me.

It does not take so long for you to find the ingredients, and even faster to get this hotty bowl to the table. My mom updated the version of that restaurant as she decides to go for these:

• 250gr ground chicken
• chicken broth, feel free to adjust the portion as to how you want your texture to be. we usually take the bowl which will finally be utilized to serve the soup to measure.
• 2 tablespoon of butter
• 80gr straw mushroom
• 25gr of cubed onion
• ½ teaspoon salt
• a pinch of black pepper
• 25ml cooking cream
• a sprinkle of rosemary
• a hint of love

Chop the chicken into small pieces and get it marinated in 10 minutes with garlic and rosemary. Try not to mince it; you don’t want to end up having a batch of liquid chicken sausage. Have the chicken broth prepared the night before. The longer the broth is steamed, the better the flavour gets.

Cut the straw mushroom into small pieces. Having a few irregularity pieces of mushroom in the soup is quite like a little surprise – the same feeling when you realize there are chocolate chips instead of raisins in your cookies! For the sake of that, we are just having small talks during the cutting part and let the universe run its own course. Cube the onion, and it’s time for things to be more exciting.

Caramelize the onions with 2 tablespoons of butter, until the onion turns slightly brown and the smell starts to raise. Put on the chicken, lower the heat down to prevent the batch from drying too quickly and keep stirring for about 10 minutes before adding in the mushroom.

As the chicken starts to golden, sweat the dry ingredients with the broth and cooking cream. The cream helps stiffen the dish without the need of flour, yet it pairs amazingly with the caramelized onions and boosts up the soup flavour. Season with salt and pepper, then wait for the soup to get boiled again.

Pour the soup over your prepared bowl, decorated with some dried rosemary and black pepper.

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This soup performs its best on a rainy morning with a hot toast sandwich or any kind of bread that just come out of the oven. While people are trying to add more vegetables in the soup such as carrots or peas and broccoli to higher the nutrients, I just want to keep mine as closest to the original form that always throws me a flashback to those days at the local restaurant.

Chicken is a good source of protein and is low in fat and sodium, which makes it become a golden choice for any kind of diet and fits well with every health condition. The hot broth helps to push out the sweat and better blood circulation. In the time of being ill, human’s digestive system might get sensitive that makes it hard to absorb the nutrition effectively. In a broader context, the human body suffers from dehydrating during sickness, and a water-based meal will surely come across as a savior.

Just to be fair, there are many more recipes out there are faster and do not call for cooking or grilling technique. However, if there is one thing that mom has taught me through the good old days, it is the conversation transpired in the kitchen that cures every ill. The way she shows me how to process the food, how to select the freshest ingredients and how to combine the flavour to each other perfectly, .. I think those, beyond anything else, is what walks me through the low moments.

/wbd/