Chicken & rice soup

Here’s a quick and easy recipe for chicken and rice soup. Of course you can always adapt it using leftover turkey or whatever you happen to have in the house.

Ingredients

(Serves 2 hungry people as a meal in a bowl and 4 as a starter)

• 1 medium onion, chopped
• a little vegetable oil for sweating off the vegetables
• 1 medium carrot, diced
• 850ml/1½pt stock (1 stock cube – vegetable or chicken)
• 1 cup of long grain rice, washed
• 1 chicken breast or some turkey meat, raw or cooked – it doesn’t matter which

Optional

You can pretty much use anything you happen to have such as:

• mushrooms
• bok choi
• cauliflower
• leek

• herbs such as parsley, chives or coriander for garnishing

Method

Chop the onion and sweat off in a suitable pan.

Chop the carrot and other vegetables, add to the pan and sweat off.

Add the stock, and bring to a simmer.

Wash the rice until the water runs clear.

Add the rice and simmer until the rice is almost cooked – about 15 minutes.

Add slices of raw or cooked chicken or turkey. Simmer until meat is cooked or thoroughly heated.

Check the seasoning. Add salt and pepper, if wanted, or another half a stock cube if you need the extra flavour.

Garnish with parsley and serve.

Variations on the theme

Vegan and vegetarian

Use vegetable stock and omit the chicken.

Thai style

Just for a change I gave my version a Thai twist by adding thin slivers of kaffir lime leaves, finely chopped lemon grass, and a splash of nam pla. It was very tasty, but quite honestly I think I prefer the more basic version.

Chicken noodle soup

Use noodles instead of rice. I’ve also made this simple soup with pearl barley. Just about anything goes!

This soup is really a meal in a bowl. It could also be popped into a Thermos flask or served in a mug for a nourishing outdoor meal for a hungry yachtsman or other outdoor sport enthusiast.

Cook’s Note: This soup doesn’t keep well, nor does it freeze. It needs to be eaten fairly soon after it’s made, otherwise the rice or noodles swell too much and become flabby. Similarly the vegetables lose their freshness if left for too long in the soup. It’s best not to make too much of this and scoff it all up once it’s ready.