Chicken Soup

Since I have been sick, chicken soup sounded like a good thing to have.  A friend I used to hang with in California taught me how to make her chicken soup.  She is Thai, so I now make Thai Chicken Soup.  It is very easy and she never wrote down anything for me to follow.  She just told me how to do it.  Now I am going to share it with you.

Put a whole chicken in a large pot big enough to fit the chicken and cover it with water.  Then you simply boil the chicken and add stems of cilantro (you can also add Thai lemon leaf and/or Thai basil).  When the chicken is cooked through, remove it to a bowl and let it cool.  Set some white rice to cook on the stove.  I generally use a cup to a cup & a half of dry white rice.  When the meat is cooler start shredding or chopping it up (which ever you prefer) and put it back in the pot (which now contains your broth).  You may not need to use all the the meat, just add what you think is enough.  I generally save some meat for other uses or a good chicken sandwich.  Okay, back to the recipe.  Add in more cilantro stems, salt to taste and the rice.  Cook a bit to heat through and let sit for a bit to let the rice absorb the broth and make a thicker soup.  When serving the soup garnished with chopped cilantro leaves, a bit of Asian chili sauce and a squeeze of lime.  It is absolutely delish and so healthy.  Leftover soup can become very thick because of the rice...it becomes more of a porridge.  Adding some good store bought chicken broth can help loosen it up again.  Happy eating!

This is a picture of the soup leftover.  See how thick it has gotten.

Here are the condiments, lime, chili sauce and chopped cilantro leaves.  When added to the soup it is so yummy!