My love affair...

I was not a big fan of soups because of my limited knowledge on types of soups available and it looked like they involved an awfully long time to prepare. The only soups I had grown accustomed to were the ones you get with an order of chicken rice, my mom's special herbs and spice soup or mushroom soup.

As I started venturing further into the culinary world (by watching cook shows), I was overwhelmed by the choices of soups and never dared to taste any of it. It wasn't until the day after I delivered my first born. My mom in law had prepared a special herbal soup which had ingredients I could not name or identify. At first I was a little apprehensive but I finished the whole bowl after my first sip! There was no turning back thereafter.

Soup is served on almost a daily basis in my house these days because it is easy to prepare, it is nutritious and my kids love soup. With just a simple recipe I managed to whip up three scrumptious meals.

Soup making has gone to a whole new level of ease with new kitchen gadgets and my life has become so much easier with the arrival of this humble looking crackpot.
It is straight forward and requires no prior experience to operate. As long as you know some basic operating rules, you are on your way to making meals while you sleep!

I'll be discussing more about the wonders of crackpot in my up coming recipes, so don't forget to connect with me to avoid missing out on these recipes.
As I was saying, meals while are asleep. It cannot get any easier than that.

My chicken soup (which I learned by watching my mom in law) is fairly simple to make but is power packed with wholesome goodness. To make this soup, all you need is free range chicken with as much meat removed. It like bone broth although I do add some meaty pieces of chicken to the pot.

The reason behind me putting meat is to allow me to make something more than mere bone broth from it. Keep reading and you will understand why.


Bone broth

Ingredients:
Free range chicken bones + some fleshy parts (just pick any part of chicken)
Enough water to cover the chicken but make sure you don't fill your crackpot up to the brim, to avoid spillage.
1 whole skinned onion
1 celery stick
Small knob of ginger.

Method:
I like to rinse the chicken with hot boiling water to remove any impurities and excess fat.
Put everything into crackpot and cover with just enough water and no seasoning is required. Close the lid and cook on slow for 12-24 hours.

I usually do this after my cup of coffee at tea time and forget about it till the next day, at lunch time.

The next day, I scoop out as much soup as I want and remove all the tender juicy meat off the bones. Then I return to bones to the crackpot so it can continue simmering in my crackpot for another round of hearty soup at dinner.

If I am serving rice or noodles, I would add some steamed carrots or potatoes into my broth and season it with salt.

If it's noodles, I would stir fry some garlic and prawns in a wok. Then add a dash of oyster, sweet and light soy sauce, and the broth to this mixture. When ready, ladle as much flavoured soup as you like into your bowl of  boiled noodles and top it up with some shredded chicken, fried garlic and spring onions. Another meal made in minutes.

If you are looking for a lighter meal or quick snack, boil some eggs and grate them using a grater, a tip I learned by watching my mom-in-law. Trust me, this works faster than mashing hard boiled eggs and the end result, a well combined sandwich spread.
Combine the shredded chicken with eggs and some finely chopped onions, celery, cucumber and mayonnaise. Season with salt and pepper to taste. Cover and let it chill in the refrigerator so the flavours can mature (or eat it immediately, works both ways).

Serve it chilled on your favourite slice of bread or sandwich it between to slices of bread with some aged cheddar cheese and toast it in a sandwich maker or on a hot plate.

For more recipes, don't be shy to head over to my Recipes page

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Thank you for stopping by at A cuppa for my thoughts 

FF