“Soup is a lot like a family. Each ingredient enhances the others, each batch has its own ingredients; and it needs time to reach its full flavour.    -Marge  Kennedy

According to Virginia Woolf – Soup is cuisine’s kindest course. 

Soup is basically a broth infused with flavour. It could be a clearsoup like a consommé or a smooth and thick soup like a creamy soup. It is usually served as the first  course of a meal and is generally intended to just whet the appetite or it could also be a hearty meal by itself served  in a bowl. Whatever the case may be a soup has to have enough liquid preparation to be sipped or eaten with a help of a spoon.

With regard to my family, when we go out for a meal, if it’s Chinese, we either order a Sweet corn chicken / crab which is the  all time favourite with the young and the old – all over the world, or a Hot and sour. We also love to order a Seafood bisque which is just so flavourful and has squid, prawns, crab and even flaked fish. There are times when we skip soup and order the main course – it depends -on how hungry we are.

This is a warm soup, a not so old recipe – tried and tested a couple of times and is packed with flavour. If you happen to taste the  soup before the addition of the juice of half a lemon and after you’ve added the lime juice – you will be pleasantly surprised to find out how much a little lime juice can do with the flavour of the soup. It is just so perfect. Do try it out  and let me know. This is a soup you can have anytime of the year, along with some fried chicken and a hearty salad – should make a good meal .

Happy to be sharing with you,

Ingredients:

• Butter -3 tbsp
• Chicken -250 GMs minced
• Mushrooms -1 cup minced
• Onion-1 minced
• Chilly flakes -1 tsp
• Flour- 3 heaped teaspoons
• Milk- 150ml
• Chicken stock -600 ml
• Juice of half a lemon
• Salt
• Pepper 
• Parsley to garnish

Method:

• In butter, fry minced onion till golden brown.
• Add chilly flakes and fry well.
• Add minced Mushroom and minced chicken and fry on high heat till mixture is dry and chicken is cooked.
• Turn down the heat and add flour. Mix well.
• Gradually  add milk and bring to a boil.
• Add chicken stock and boil for a couple of minutes on a low flame till all the flavours are infused.
• Turn off the flame and add salt and pepper to taste.
• After a couple of minutes add lime juice and stir well.
• Garnish with parsley and serve hot.

Chefs tips:

• In case there is no chicken stock , you can dissolve a chicken soup cube in  a cup of water and use accordingly. So for 600 ml you have to dissolve 3 soup cubes.
• To clean button mushrooms, rub the cut mushrooms with 2-3 tablespoons of flour and dust off the excess.
• Once the chicken stock is added and the soup is boiling on a low flame, a sprig of mint can be added to the soup . Do not forget to remove the mint fare a couple of minutes.
• The lime  juice has to be added once the flame is off.
• Always use fresh, boiled and cooled milk.
• Go easy on the salt as the soup cubes are salty.
• You could serve the soup with bread croutons too.
• For bread croutons, toast bread and cut into small cubes with the help of a pair of kitchen scissors.
• Serves 4.

“Bon appetite”

Till my next post,

Cheers

Rose