Najwas Chicken Soup Recipes

CLASSIC JEWISH CHICKEN SOUP

Steps:

• Put chicken in a large pot with the chopped onions. Pour enough water into the pot to cover; add dill, parsley, salt, and pepper. Bring to a boil, reduce heat to medium-low, and cook at a simmer for 45 minutes.
• Skim and discard any foam from the top of the simmering liquid. Remove chicken to a cutting board. Remove as much meat from the chicken bones as possible; cut into chunks.
• Return the liquid to a boil. Add carrots, potatoes, leeks, celery, kohlrabi, and parsnips to the boiling liquid. Reduce heat to medium-low and cook until the vegetables are tender, about 20 minutes. Stir cooked chicken chunks and chicken bouillon into the mixture. Season again with salt and pepper. Cook until the chicken is hot, about 5 minutes.

CHICKEN SOUP

Steps:

• Put all the ingredients, except the matzo balls, in a large stockpot, cover abundantly with water, and bring to a boil. Skim to remove all the gray scum that will float to the surface, then let cook at a simmer for about 3 hours. Just keep tasting: when the broth tastes golden and chickeny, it's ready. Remove the chicken and, if you like, leave the soup to get cold to you can remove any fat that collects on the surface. That way you can accrue some schmaltz, too.
• Reheat the stock, and serve it as a plain soup, or add a few carrot sticks - from about 2 carrots, say - and cook in the soup, adding some torn-up pieces of chicken to warm through at the end. I like to add freshly chopped parsley. (You can also cook the Matzo Balls in the soup as well while it's heating up again.)
• Whisk the egg in a large-ish bowl, then whisk in the melted schmaltz (or whatever). Carry on whisking as you add the water or soup stock, the matzo meal and salt and pepper, and mix together into a rough paste; if it's too stiff to feel that it might be malleable later, add a little more water. Put in the refrigerator to chill for 1 hour (or leave overnight if you wish) then dip out small lumps of paste and roll them into walnut-sized balls between the palms of your hands. Cook the dumplings in boiling, salted water and simmer for about 40 minutes (you can just cook them directly in the soup, but I'll do anything to preserve its unstarchy clearness). They are cooked when they rise to the surface. Add to the soup, and ladle out generously into waiting bowls.

ZIMBABWEAN CHICKEN AND VEGETABLE SOUP

Steps:

• Heat the olive oil over medium heat in a large soup pot; cook and stir the onion in the hot oil until translucent, about 5 minutes. Whisk 1/2 cup of vegetable stock and the peanut butter into the onions until the mixture is smooth. Beat in remaining vegetable stock, diced tomatoes with their liquid, and crushed red pepper flakes; bring to a boil, reduce heat to medium low, and cook at a simmer for 30 minutes, stirring occasionally.
• Stir in the cabbage, sweet potato, carrot, and turnip; simmer, stirring occasionally, until the vegetables are tender, about 30 more minutes. Stir in the okra and chicken and simmer until the okra is tender, about 30 additional minutes.

JACQUES PEPIN'S CHICKEN SOUP

Steps:

• Wash the gizzards and hearts under cool running water, place them in a saucepan with 6 cups of water and bring to a boil over high heat. Boil 1 to 2 minutes, then skim off and discard any fat and impurities that rise. Cover, reduce the heat to low and boil gently for 45 minutes.
• With a slotted spoon, remove the gizzards and hearts from the cooking liquid and place them on a chopping board. When cool enough to handle, cut them into 1/4-inch pieces or chop them coarsely in a food processor. Return them to the cooking liquid with the celery, carrots and salt. Bring back to a boil over high heat, cover, reduce the the heat to low and boil gently for another 45 minutes.
• Add the cornmeal, scallions and dill and cook for 15 minutes longer, stirring occasionally.
• Spoon into bowls. Garnish, if desired, with a tablespoon of sour cream and a sprinkling of cilantro.

NAJWA'S CHICKEN SOUP

Steps:

• Melt butter over medium heat, add onion and cook until softened but not browned.
• Add garlic, potato, chicken, carrot, salt, pepper and thyme, cook until chicken is no longer pink.
• Add chicken stock and simmer over low heat for 5 minutes.
• Add rice and simmer for 5 minutes.
• Add milk, lemon and parsley, heat through and serve.