Ginger Garlic Chicken Soup
No, it is never enough to say how hearty, filling, warming, comforting the chicken soup is. It is the perfect winter meal and for centuries it has been a traditional first aid when somebody get sick or cold.
This recipe makes it even more effective, as it uses A LOT of ginger and garlic.
For 5L soup pot take
Half of the whole chicken (save other half for another soup)
250g fresh ginger root
whole garlic bulb (even 2, if they are small)
fresh parsley
2-3 carrots
1 tsp of whole black pepper
salt to taste
rice noodles, cooked separately, strained and rinsed with cold water
Brush the ginger root, DO NOT peel it, just cut coarsely to few big pieces. Wash the garlic bulb, separate the cloves, DO NOT remove the skin.
Put chicken, ginger, garlic, black pepper in a pot with water, heat to the boiling point, then reduce the heat so the broth just lightly simmers (our grandmothers call it “smiles”) until the chicken is tender. For broiler chicken one hour is enough. If you are dealing with an old hen or mature rooster (they are available from some small farmers or CSA programs as “soup chickens”), you may need to give it 2 – 2 1/2 hours. Just before the chicken is ready, add a bunch of fresh parsley with stems for even more aroma and whole cleaned carrots to the broth.
When carrots are soft, remove them and put aside. Remove the chicken, put it aside in a bowl to cool down. Strain the broth, discard everything you strained out. Separate chicken meat from the bones, put meat back to the broth. Cut carrots coarsely, but back to the broth.
Pour hot broth with carrot and meat pieces to the bowl, add cooked wide rice noodles, sprinkle with fresh chopped parsley and enjoy!
This broth has a bite! Because it is literally ginger, garlic and black pepper decoction! But this is exactly what makes it SO good.
Why to cook and keep noodles separately? Because if you cook them in the broth, it becomes murky. Besides, if left in a pot with broth, they continue to swell until they fill the whole pot and become mushy.