If I had to pick a dish that I always enjoy, it would have to be a chicken soup. Good broth is in fact suitable for any occasion, from hangover to bad mood or a romantic dinner. Getting older, the idea of hot soup and beer on the couch becomes even exciting. In this recipe you will learn some tips on basic chicken broth, which you can use as the base for Asian style soup.
For the broth (about 6 servings):
2 chicken carcasses and wings
1 carrot
1 onion (unpeeled)
3 cloves of garlic
1 stick of celery
3 bay leaves
10 black peppercorns
salt
If you do not have a pressure cooker, you can use a classic pot. I have been always told that proper broth takes up to 6 hours to cook, but this rule applies mostly to large quantities. I would say that about 2 hours is enough. If you want to use meat, remove it before the end of cooking and leave in only bones, otherwise it loses taste. For best results use double pressure cooking method: first prepape a basic broth and strain it, then put some wings in the oven and bake until they are golden brown, fry some vegetables and cook the wings and vegetables with the original broth again. Consommé works on the same principle.
The broth should be reduced. We don’t really do it at home, but at the restaurant we normally reduce it by half. When cooking at home we usually want to eat as soon as possible, so we fill the pot with water just to cover the bones. If you put in too much water it is obviously loosing strength and we don’t want that to happen.
For the asian style soup (2 servings):
2 portions of rice noodles
100 g bottom mushrooms
30 g carrots, cut into stripes
30 g Mungo sprouts
20 g Perilla, spring onions and coriander
2 boneless chicken thighs (dust the skin lightly with flour)
1 bird eye chilli (thinly sliced)
2 pieces of okra
2 slices of limes
Coat the chicken thighs lightly in flour – only on the skin side and shake off the excess flour. Put the chicken skin side down on a heated pan and cook until almost done. This way the chicken gets super cripsy!
Soak the noodles in hot water and leave them in for about 10 minutes (ideally just follow instructions on packaging). Cut the carrot into stripes and serve it raw . Add the mungo sprouts, herbs fried mushrooms and fried okra. Slice the chicken and add the chilli and lime – as much as you like. Enjoy!
