Looking back over the past few months of my bloggity blogging, I am struck by two things: There has been a serious dearth of updates since about September, and most of them have been about soup. I mean, it is kind of excessive and I almost don’t even want to post this, yet another recipe for soup. But it was such a delicious soup, it really doesn’t deserve to be slighted like that. And if I don’t, well, I’ll just be contributing to the lack of posting here. Or would that be not contributing? Ack, my brain is exhausted from my cataloging homework and I can’t really figure out the niceties of language right now, but I can tell you how this lovely bowl of soup came to be.
Ok, it doesn’t look so lovely. The saddest thing about my recent obsession with soup is that the stuff doesn’t really photograph well. All the pictures I took of my soup just kind of look like yellow puddles with overturned broccoli trees sticking out of them. However, do not let the lack of photogenic qualities deter you: This recipe is easy and tasty, is a great use for leftover chicken, if you happen to have roasted one up, and is even better reheated for lunch the next day. This soup deserves to be part of what is quickly becoming the year of the soup.
I found the recipe when I was looking for something to do with the chicken I had leftover from my lackluster roasting experience. It is from Kalyn’s Kitchen and the original recipe has something to do with some kind of South Beach, low carb experience. But I took care of that right quick, heh heh. There’s no dieting in Laura’s kitchen. I like my carbs, baby.
I only made a few small changes to the recipe, actually, and it turned out to be a lighter and less filling soup than I expected, which is nice because I’ll be eating it all week. I made a lot of soup. The bonus thing is that the flavor really improved overnight: The curry flavor became a little more pronounced, and the ginger kind of mellowed out. It thickened up a little bit, but not to the point of heaviness, and the chicken became even more tender. Pretty awesome, if you ask me. And my housemate liked it, too, so you don’t have to take my word for it.
(Didn’t the kids on Reading Rainbow used to say that after they gave their funny little book reviews? Oh man, I am seriously digressing, it has been a loooong day.)
So here’s some broccoli! I heart broccoli, and I just thought it looked so lovely sitting there on the red cutting board, all chopped up. It made me think of a funny song my friend used to sing whenever she ate broccoli, that was pretty much just the words “choppin’ broccoli” over and over. Yeah, I think that was from Saturday Night Live.
Alright, I’ll share the recipe now.
Chicken Curry Soup with Broccoli and Rice
- 1 T. vegetable oil or olive oil
- 1 small onion, diced
- 2 tsp. curry powder
- 1/2 tsp. ginger powder
- 1/2 tsp. garlic powder
- some salt and pepper
- 4 c. chicken stock and 2 c. water (or you could use 6 c. chicken stock or chicken broth, I just didn’t have enough, doh!)
- about 1 1/2 – 1 3/4 c. chopped cooked chicken (if you don’t have leftover chicken, you could just poach, or grill, or roast a large boneless, skinless chicken breast and cut that up)
- 1/2 tsp. dried thyme
- 1/2 c. basmati rice
- 1 c. chopped broccoli (choppin broccoleh, choppiiiin uh–hah, it was Dana Carvey, and it was funny)
- 1 T. butter
- 2 T. flour
- 1/2 c. chicken stock
- 1 c. heavy cream (the original recipe calls for half and half, but I didn’t have it, so I used heavy cream instead, and as I mentioned, it was a nice, light soup, so I say use whatever you have)
Heat the vegetable or olive oil in a large soup pot over medium heat. Once the oil is hot, add the onions and stir to coat them all in oil. Lower the heat, and cook the onions, stirring occasionally, for about five minutes, or until they are just beginning to turn transparent.
Add the curry powder, ginger, garlic powder, and a bit of salt and pepper, and stir everything well so the onions are nicely coated. Saute everything for about a minute, until it’s all very fragrant, and then add the chicken stock, chopped up chicken, and the thyme. Stir well, turn the heat back up, and let the stock come to a slow boil. Then lower it again so the liquid is simmering, and cover the pot. Let it all cook for about 15 minutes.
Add the rice, and again, stir it all up well. Return the liquid to a simmer, cover the pot, and continue to cook for about 15 to 20 minutes, or however long it takes for the rice to cook and become tender. Then add the broccoli (and perhaps a little extra water so the broccoli can be decently covered) and continue to simmer for about another ten minutes.
While the broccoli is cooking away in the soupy stuff, make your thickening agent (it’s like a secret agent for soup!) in a small saucepan on another burner: Melt the butter over low heat, and once it’s melted, whisk in the flour. Whisk rapidly until you have a bit of a lumpy paste, and then add half a cup of chicken stock. Continue to cook and whisk continually until it suddenly becomes very thick, and then add in the cream (or half and half). Whisk away, my friend, letting the cream mixture thicken up nicely, but not letting it boil, because cream doesn’t like to boil.
Once the broccoli is tender and the thickener is thickened, reduce the heat under the soup to low and slowly stir in the cream mixture. Let it cook for another few minutes over low, low heat until it’s well mixed and the soup is slightly thickened and it smells very good and you just can’t wait anymore.
This makes about six servings, I think, so I really will be eating it all week. But chicken soup is good for you when you’re sick, and I’ve been sick for about four weeks now, so maybe this will finally do the trick and knock some wellness back into me.
Or at least some sense. I’ll try to be more coherent next time, leave out the digressions into old television, you know. I’ll do my best.