This is my mom’s recipe for a Tamil style chicken clear soup. She made this when my brother or I had cold. Traditionally, the dish is prepared with Red jungle fowl (நாட்டு கோழி). I used organic chicken for my soup. It is easy to prepare, nutritious, delicious, and has lots of medicinal properties that helps with the cold/flu symptoms. You will definitely feel your sinuses open up before you finish a hot bowl of this soup. Hope you like it.
Tamil Chicken Soup
Ingredients:
| Chicken | 1.5 lb (approx. 750 grams) | It is the bones that give the flavor to this soup. So I prefer using chicken legs. |
| Shallots | 7 – 10 | Chopped. If you do not have shallots, use 1 big red onion instead. |
| Ginger-garlic paste | 1 tbsp | – |
| Cooking oil | 1 tsp | I like to use sesame seed oil for this soup. |
| Black pepper corns | 1 tsp | Crushed |
| Cumin | 1 tsp | Crushed |
| Turmeric powder | 1 tsp | – |
| Salt | – | – |
| Cilantro | 2 tbsp | Finely chopped (optional) |
Procedure:
- Clean and chop the meat into bite sized chunks.
- Heat a deep sauce pan and add the oil.
- When the oil is hot, add the chopped shallots along with the crushed pepper and cumin. Add a pinch of salt (salt pulls out the water in the onion thereby caramelizing it faster) and fry the onions till they start turning translucent/pink.
- Now add the ginger-garlic paste and turmeric powder. Fry for a minute. Make sure you stir regularly since garlic tends to ‘stick’ and burn easily when using metal pans.
- Add the meat along with two cups of water.
- Cover the saucepan with a lid and let the meat cook well.
- Once the meat is completely cooked, add salt as necessary and put off the flame.
- Transfer contents to a serving bowl, garnish with chopped cilantro, and enjoy it while it’s hot.
- If you want more spice, you can add more crushed pepper to the prepared soup.
Tips:
- I like to leave the skin and fat on the meat for this soup.
- If the bones are too big, just crack them a little while cleaning. The marrow provides fantastic flavor and lots of nutrients.
- Remove meat/bones from the soup for clear soup. I use the cooked meat for curry.
- The same recipe can be used with goat meat.
Gopi's Kitchen 