Chicken Glass Noodle Soup Vietnamese (Mien Ga) Style

Chicken noodle soup is a perfect comfort food when feeling unwell or just recovering from an illness. But after living in India for more than two years, I am always craving for more flavour, not necessarily spicy-hot though, in the food that I eat. So this time around, it was a simple but very flavourful Vietnamese inspired chicken and glass noodle soup, kind of like mien ga. Though I don't claim any authenticity in this recipe of mine. I made it from scratch and with what was available in my kitchen. Instead of making your own spiced chicken stock, you can buy some and infuse it with, for example, fresh ginger, lemon grass, white pepper corns. And most importantly, do use your imagination when choosing the garnish!

You will need: Chicken stock: ~ 1/2 kg of misc. chicken parts (backs, wings, necks, etc.) ~2.5 cm ginger piece, sliced 1 tsp of pepper corns salt to taste ~2 l of water Soup: 1 cup sliced chicken, skinless, breast or thighs ~100 g of glass noodles, soaked in water for 10 mins ~1 l of the chicken stock handful of greens, I used radish leaves, coarsely chopped fish sauce to taste 2 tbsp lime juice Garnish: fresh corriander bean sprouts chillies, chopped (optional) lime wedges 1. To make the chicken stock, cover chicken parts with plenty of water, add sliced ginger, pepper corns and salt, bring it to a boil and let it simmer for 1-2 hours. Once ready, strain and let it cool. Finally, remove the fat from the top. It can be kept in the freezer for a couple of months. 2. In a pot, pour around 1 l of the chicken stock and bring it to a boil. Add the chicken pieces, fish sauce and lime juice and let it simmer for around 10 minutes or until the chicken is cooked. 3. Strain the glass noodles and cut them into desired length. Add the noodles and greens into the soup just for a few minutes. 4. When ready to serve, put chicken and noodles into a big soup bowl and pour the stock over them. Garnish with fresh greens and herbs and serve with lime wedges on the side.

Enjoy!

~If using regular chicken stock, simmer it with some fresh sliced ginger, crushed lemon grass stems, white pepper corns and strain before serving.
~ You can use sliced leftover/cooked chicken instead of raw chicken in the soup.

Chicken Soup with Lemon Grass, Ginger and a Bunch of Veggies

This is not your ordinary chicken soup. This is Tom Yum meets Chicken Soup for your soul! This soup was inspired by a piece of lemon grass that I found at the bottom of a vegetable tray in our fridge that was still in a good shape and I didn't want to risk losing it to the trash can eventually. I had leftovers of a simple rosemary roast chicken from the last night and I made some chicken stock using parts, namely legs, that I cut off before roasting the chicken. That's the thing, if you buy a whole chicken in India, you will get lots of spare parts with it. Shame on me, but I often end up throwing most of them out, except for our cats eating a few that they like. But not anymore. I made some nice stock by simmering the legs in a pot with water. Then I inspected the fridge again and saw what veggies I could find. But don't be limited by my selection and feel free to add, for example, corn or leek, or broccoli, etc. Just add the veggies in the order of their cooking time. It turned out to be a very flavourful chicken soup, but not as spicy as your typical Tom Yum soup, which must be one of my favourite comfort foods in this world. I felt completely relaxed and rejuvenated after having whole two bawls of this soup at night after a long week in the office.

If you don't have roast chicken leftovers, just raw chicken pieces, dice the pieces and saute them lightly along with the veggies before adding them to the soup and cooking. You might want to add just a little bit of rosemary or thyme to the soup in this case. I added my leftover chicken with rosemary sprigs and it added a nice touch to the soup.

You will need: leftover of ~1/3 small roasted chicken, diced 1 medium onion, chopped 2-3 garlic cloves, chopped 1 carrot, diced 3 spring onions, white and green part, chopped 3 small potatoes, peeled and cut into medium size pieces ~1 cup of frozen peas 1 stalk of lemon grass, only white part, cut into a few bigger pieces ~3 cm ginger piece, cut into bigger pieces 1 green chili, halved and seeds removed 3-4 cup of chicken stock a bit of olive oil salt and pepper to taste 1. Bring the chicken stock to a boil, add the lemon grass stalk, ginger pieces, green chili and potatoes, season to your taste and let it simmer it for about 7 minutes. 2. Meanwhile, heat some olive oil in a pan and first fry the onion till it gets translucent, don't let it brown. Add the white part of spring onion, garlic and carrots and saute for a few more minutes. 3. Add the sauteed onion, carrots and chicken pieces to the stock and let it simmer for ~5-7 more minutes. 4. Add the peas and let it simmer for a few more minutes. Just before it is ready, add the green part of the spring onion. That's it!

Enjoy!

Kerala Chicken Stew with Coconut Milk

This chicken stew with an aromatic coconut milk gravy is a great comfort food. It's simple and quick to make, doesn't need many ingredients and most importantly, is so delicious and satisfying. This recipe is from Kerala, a state in India where they use a lot of both fresh coconut and coconut milk in their cooking. Creamy coconut milk makes this stew very soothing, cinnamon and cloves warm you up, you can taste just a hint of ginger and sweetness of onions. Green chillies are optional if you prefer a very mild food, but they add a nice kick to the stew. We like eating with some nice white bread, which we dip into the gravy so that not a drop of this goodness gets waisted. It tastes and in person looks much better than in a picture!

You will need: 1/2 kg chicken pieces, skinless or with skin 2 medium potatoes, peeled and cut into small cubes 1 medium red onion, thinly sliced 1 cm ginger root, peeled and chopped 12 black peppercorns 3 cm cinnamon stick, broken into smaller pieces 5 cloves 1 cup coconut milk 10 curry leaves (optional) 2 green chillies, chopped (cut lengthwise and remove seeds for a milder version) salt to taste oil for frying 1. Heat some oil in a pot with a thick bottom and first fry the onion until it becomes soft. Don't let it brown, reduce the flame if it starts burning. 2. Next, add the ginger and fry for another moment. 3. Add cinnamon, black peppercorns, cloves and curry leaves and fry them only until they release the aroma. Don't worry if you cannot get curry leaves, just skip them. 4. Add the potatoes and fry for another minute before adding the chicken pieces, keep frying for a couple of minutes or till the chicken pieces start browning lightly on all sides. 5. Mix 1/2 of the coconut milk with 1/2 cup of water, pour over the chicken and bring it to a boil. 6. Add green chillies (optional) and salt to taste, cover the pot, reduce the flame and cook till the potatoes and chicken are done. It will take you 10-15 minutes, the time will depend on the size of the pieces. 7. Once it's cooked, mix in the remaining half of the coconut milk and remove the pot from the flame. Adding some coconut milk right at the end of the cooking, adds a nice fresh coconut flavour to the stew. Enjoy!

Chicken Biryani

Everyone loves good biryani - aromatic rice layered with soft and juicy chicken, mutton or vegetables. No wonder it's often served at different festivals and celebrations. Making biryani is quite a time consuming process so most of the time we end up ordering it from a local restaurant rather than cooking it at home. There is simply not enough time left at the end of a working day. But once in a while, when you are expecting a dear guest or simply for a family dinner on a weekend or a holiday it's worth all the work. I really enjoyed making this biryani with all the lovely aromas at every step of it. It's one of my husband's family recipes that everyone was raving about. It was a bit different from biryani I tasted before, maybe it is a Kerala recipe, but it was absolutely delicious!

You will need: 1/2 chicken, cut into medium size pieces, with skin or skinless a small cup of natural yogurt ~1 teaspoon of salt 1/2 teaspoon of turmeric powder 6 (4+2) cardamon pods 5 (3+2) cloves 7 (5+2) 2 cm cinnamon stick pieces 1-2 bay leaves 4 (3+1) medium onions, thinly sliced 9 small garlic cloves, chopped 3-4 cm ginger root piece, chopped 3-5 green chillies, halved and seeds removed 1.5 cup Basmati rice a handful of mint leaves, chopped a handful of coriander leaves, chopped 2 tbsp of lime/lemon juice oil for frying 1 tsp of ghee/butter 1. Mix chicken pieces with yogurt, turmeric and salt and let it marinate while getting other ingredients ready. 2. Chicken will be the tastiest and softest if you cook it in a pressure cooker. [If you don't have a pressure cooker, you can make it in a regular pot as well, just cook it for a longer time until chicken is done.] Heat some oil in a pressure cooker and first fry 4 cardamon pods, 3 cloves, 5 cinnamon pieces and bay leaves until the spices release their lovely aroma. 3. Add 3 of the chopped onions and fry it very well on a high heat. When the onion starts browning, add the garlic, ginger and green chillies and fry for another minute. 4. Next, take out the marinated chicken pieces, add them to the pot and fry them evenly on all sides for just a few minutes before adding the yogurt, in which they were being marinated. Finally, pour a little bit of water, cover the pressure cooker and let it cook for 5 minutes after the first whistle. Remove the pressure cooker from the heat, let it cool down a little bit and open it carefully. Strain the juices from the chicken pieces and onions with all the spices (should be about 1.5 cup of liquid) and keep it all aside. 5. While the chicken is cooking, you can start making the rice. Heat some oil in a pot and first fry the rest of the spices (cardamon, clove and cinnamon) for a couple of minutes. 6. Add the rest of the chopped onion and fry it well until it browns. Remove a little bit of caramelized onion and keep it aside for garnishing. 7. Finally, add the rice and first fry it until it starts changing the colour (for about 5 minutes), stir it from time to time so that it doesn't burn at the bottom. Pour 1.5 cup of water, sprinkle some salt, bring it to a boil, cover the pot, reduce the heat and simmer until the water evaporates. Then pour the juices you separated from the cooked chicken, cover it again and let it simmer until the water evaporates again and rice is done. 8. Preheat the oven to 170-180 C. In a big ceramic or glass dish that can be used in an oven, start layering the biryani: put 1/3 of rice on the bottom, next put half of the chicken pieces and onion with spices, sprinkle with half of chopped mint and coriander leaves and 1 tablespoon of lime/lemon juice. Don't put too much of lime juice as there will be some sourness from the yogurt already. Repeat it one more time and cover it with a top layer of rice. Sprinkle the top with one teaspoon (or as much as you want :o)) of melted ghee/butter. 9. Cover the dish and cook the biryani in an oven for 15-20 minutes. Serve it right away. Just before serving, top it with caramelized onions.

Enjoy!