Cure-Me-Quick Soup with Chicken, Noodles, Ginger & Lime

Yahoo Health

Soup season is right around the corner. (Photo: Pimp My Rice by Nisha Katona)

Serves: 4
Prep: 30 minutes
Cook: 1 hour
15 minutes

We all know chicken soup is dispensed in God’s own pharmacy, but so often it tastes of dishwater. Not this one – it is full of big flavours that have big health benefits. The lime packs a good vitamin-C punch, the bones and skin perform their antibiotic magic, plus this big pan of golden goodness serves four, as I’m presuming you have infected your nearest and dearest. Look, freak not at the floating scum stage. Spoon a bit of it off but don’t be too OCD. The mother soup will reabsorb any loose scum outriders and tame them into this goodness transfusion.

  • 1 tbsp olive oil

  • 2 chicken breasts, skin on

  • 2 chicken thighs, skin on

  • 1 small onion, diced

  • 2 garlic cloves, crushed

  • 240ml/8fl oz/1 cup white wine

  • grated zest and juice of 2 limes

  • 5cm/2in piece of fresh root ginger, peeled and halved

  • 4 whole black peppercorns

  • 2 chicken stock cubes, crumbled

  • 2 bay leaves

  • 2 tsp caster/granulated sugar

  • 2 carrots, peeled and sliced

  • 2 celery stalks, diced

  • 1 tbsp finely chopped thyme leaves

  • 115g/4oz fine rice noodles

  • salt and freshly ground black pepper

  • a few coriander/cilantro sprigs

Heat the olive oil in a large saucepan over a medium heat, add the chicken, onion, and crushed garlic cloves and cook for about 5 minutes until the chicken breast is browned and the onions start to turn translucent.

Now pour the wine, lime juice and 1 litre/35fl oz/4⅓ cups water over the chicken mixture. Slice one half of the ginger and add it to the pan with the peppercorns, chicken stock cubes, bay leaves and sugar. Bring to the boil, then turn the heat down to medium-low and simmer for 45 minutes.

Remove the chicken pieces from the soup to a cutting board. Shred the breast and thighs into small pieces, discarding the bones and skin.

Add the carrots, celery, half the lime zest and the thyme to the soup. Reduce the heat to low and cook until the vegetables begin to soften, about 20 minutes.
Bring the soup to the boil. Return the chicken to the soup along with the noodles. Mince the remaining ginger and add it to the pan. Remove the pan from heat, cover and leave to one side until the noodles have softened. This should take about 10 minutes.

Season with salt and pepper to taste, then top with the coriander/cilantro and the remaining lime zest to serve.

Excerpted from Pimp My Rice by Nisha Katonha, available on Amazon.