People on Facebook asked me the other day for my Chinese Chicken Soup recipe. The request was funny for two reasons. First, the point of the Facebook post was that I had successfully made a vegetarian substitute that was pretty tasty, and people wanted to know how I made it but not the vegetarian version. Second, I just wanted to say, recipe, HAHAHAHAHAHA!
And, seriously, the soup always tastes *approximately* the same each time I make it, but not really *exactly* the same. I measure exactly nothing. That is not some humble brag, like "Oh, gee, this old thing? I only wear it when I don't care how I look!" I originally sort of cobbled it together from a few other basic Chinese recipes and futzed with it, and now I just sort of eyeball it and taste as I go along. If you want to make it, this is a really basic outline, but you should know that I'm VERY ROUGHLY estimating what I think are the amounts of things that I usually use. Improvise and adjust based on what you like.
Ingredients:
1 or 2 peeled carrots and 1 or 2 stalks of celery, chopped
2 or 3 cloves of minced garlic (confession: I use a big glop of pre-minced garlic from a jar because I'm a bad person)
Some grated fresh ginger (again, I use from a jar, not as much as garlic because it's stronger--maybe a teaspoon or so?)
1 32-oz. carton or a few cans of low sodium chicken broth (or use the kick-ass homemade chicken broth that your handsome husband makes every time he roasts a chicken, if you got one of those handsome husbands that does that)
Soy sauce to taste (I use reduced sodium and I use a fair amount, at least 2 or 3 tablespoons and probably more)
Splash of white wine (optional)
About 1/4 cup (guessing here) of cooking sherry or rice cooking wine
1-2 teaspoons Worcestershire sauce
A splash (or more) of lime juice or a light vinegar like rice vinegar or white wine vinegar, maybe even cider vinegar would work.
Chopped or shredded cooked chicken--couple of breasts and/or thighs, or whatever leftovers you have from the chicken you made the other night.
I bunch of bok choy. You can substitute other greens--baby bok choy, napa cabbage, probably kale would work although I've never tried it. I probably wouldn't go collard greens. But you do need some kind of greens in there.
1. Saute the carrots and celery (you could also throw in a little bit of chopped onion if you wanted but I wouldn't do very much--although if you do, let me know how it tastes!) in a couple of tablespoons of oil. I usually use sesame oil. Let them cook a few minutes, then add the garlic and cook another minute. Add the ginger, and then the white wine and cooking wine. Let it cook off for a couple of minutes. Then add the chicken broth, soy sauce, and Worcestershire sauce. Bring it just about up to a boil, then reduce heat, add chicken, and simmer about 15-20 minutes. Meanwhile, chop up the bok choy. Add that in after the soup has simmered, and let it simmer another 10 minutes or so. Add in the lime juice/vinegar. You can add what seasonings you like--I've used white pepper, lemon pepper, and Chinese 5-spice although not all three at the same time.
I usually cook up a pot of Chinese-style thin noodles to serve with the soup. You could use egg noodles or regular angel hair pasta. Pile the noodles in a bowl and ladle the soup over them. This is good with a little Chinese chili oil or chili paste if you like it. You can also top it with chopped green onions.
No comments:
Post a Comment