Friday, May 29, 2015

"My Mother-In-Law's Spicy Chicken Soup"

I realized that I hadn't really done many soups on this blog, so I decided that in honor of the warm weather, I would write about my experience making one. The name led me to believe that it was merely a family recipe. However, I discovered that this particular soup is actually a very authentic dish originating from Yemen. I have always loved chicken soup, and was excited to try a different variation than what I was used to.

Ingredients
The recipe calls for 2 1/2 pounds of chicken pieces, but I just used three fairly large chicken breasts. Allowing the whole breast cook with the soup creates a much more prominent chicken flavor in the broth itself, giving the flavors of the two a nice unity.

Seasoned Chicken
The most prominent spice in this recipe is cumin. I added about 5 teaspoons of it, and then 2 more of ground turmeric (also an undefined amount of salt and pepper). I coated each breast with the spices, and then seared them for about 7 minutes.

Broth 
Once the chicken was seared, I added 7 cups of water, and then the tomato and peeled onion. I ended up cutting the onion in half because I thought it would give off a stronger taste. Once the mixture was boiling, I let it continue for about an hour and a half.

Shredding the Chicken 
Once the timer beeped, I took out each breast one at a time and shredded the chicken after discarding the bones from the meat. I then added the chicken back into the broth.

Zucchini 
This part is optional, but I thought that I might as well add a green vegetable. I sliced the zucchini relatively thin, and then let it cook in the soup for about 15 minutes. However, before adding it, I discarded the tomato and onion.

Finished Product
I served this dish with a slice of batch bread made by my mom. (Recipe from the My Irish Table cookbook.)  The flavors of the soup combined to form a delicious concoction. The chicken and broth shared a certain unifying flavor, and the tomato and onion offered a nice undertone. However, I am not a very big fan of zucchini, and, considering it was added in the last 15 minutes, it did not feel incorporated in the flavor. In my opinion, the zucchini was just in the way. Although I didn't like the zucchini, it did not take away from the overall taste of the soup. I would recommend this dish to anyone who wishes to enjoy a light, delicious soup. My only suggestion would be to not bother with the zucchini (unless you like it).






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