Recipe: Chicken, shiitake mushroom, noodle soup

Clear soups are both mouthwateringly delicious and extremely healthy. They are easy to cook and you can play with the ingredients to create an array of flavours. A clear soup can be a great appetiser for a dinner, especially when you don’t want your guests to fill up on just soup and enjoy the other dishes as well.

Note: Shiitake mushrooms are the best mushrooms for soups and can usually be bought in dried form.

Ingredients

For the broth

Chicken 1/2 kg

A whole carrot

Half a cabbage

A whole spring onion

Whole black pepper 7-8

Salt 1-2 tsp

Garlic cloves 2-3

Water 4 glasses

Other vegetables

Bean sprouts ½ can

Corn ½ can

Shiitake mushroom ½ cup

Flat rice noodles or normal flat egg noodles ¼ pack

Method

•  Soak the mushrooms in water till soft.

•  In a deep pan, simmer all the broth ingredients for 30 to 45 minutes.

•  Once the water becomes cloudy and the liquid has reduced to half the initial quantity, sieve and separate the broth from the rest of the ingredients.

•  Pour the broth into the deep pan again.

•  Add back the cabbage leaves and small cubes of shredded chicken to the broth. You can also fry the chicken pieces in a non-stick pan without oil before adding them to the broth.

•  Dice half the carrot used in cooking the broth and add. (Optional)

•  Add bean sprouts, Shiitake mushrooms and corn and let the broth simmer on low heat till all the flavours have fused together.

•  Mix cooked noodles into the soup.

•  Garnish with sliced spring onions and serve. 

Preparation time: 15 minute(s)

Cooking time: 1 hour

Serves 4 people

Madiha Hamid is a digital media professional. She loves the food traditions unique to families. She is running a food blog for Pakistani and regional cuisines called cheflingtales.com

Published in The Express Tribune, Ms T, February 17th, 2013.

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