Chicken soup is a great old home remedy. Like my mother and my grandmother and many others before them, I strongly believe that chicken soup can help ease cold and flu symptoms. Besides its “healing” anti-inflammatory properties (it can clear nasal congestion and ease sore throat), it is really delicious. I don’t only cook it when someone is sick in my family; I make it very often on cold autumn and winter days.I like to prepare the soup with a whole free-range chicken, but you can also use chicken pieces instead.
The best way to clean the chicken is by removing excess skin and fat around the neck and tail, then wash it inside out with cold water in a colander. Keeping it in the colander you generously rub it with salt and half a lemon and wash it again. And depending on the recipe you are making; you rub the chicken with salt and other spices.
We learn this ritual of cleaning chicken from our mothers. Like every Lebanese and most probably every Arab we dread rank odour, which we unanimously call “zankha”. My students, especially newcomers to the course, wonder what this rank odour smells like. I grin, and say just follow my instructions.
Shorbet Djej
Ingredients
- 1200-1400 g free-range chicken
- 2 teaspoons salt
- Half of a lemon
- 1 teaspoon salt
- 2 litres cold water
- 1 medium onion peeled
- 1 cinnamon stick
- 4 whole cardamom pods
- 2 bay leaves
- 200 g long grain rice rinsed and soaked in cold water for 30 minutes
- 100 g carrot peeled, rinsed and finely chopped
- 1 ½ teaspoons salt ¼ teaspoon cinnamon to season or one stick cinnamon
- 3 tablespoons coarsely chopped parsley
- Lemon juice to serve
Instructions
- Remove excess skin and fat from the chicken (around the neck and tail). Wash the chicken inside and out with cold water over a colander. Sprinkle the chicken with the 2 teaspoons salt and rub inside and out with the half lemon. Then wash it again with cold water. Finally rub the chicken with the teaspoon salt.
- Add the chicken and the water to the pot, cover and bring to a boil over high heat. Skim the foam from the surface with a slotted spoon. Add the onion, the cinnamon stick, the cardamom pods and the bay leaves. Reduce heat to medium-low and cook, covered, for about 50 minutes, or until done and tender
- Discard the onion, cinnamon stick, cardamom pods and bay leaves. Remove the chicken and place on a plate. Skin chicken, debone and cut or tear the meat into bite-sized pieces. Pour the chicken stock into a clean big pot and keep warm.
- Add chicken pieces to the stock in the clean pot, add the drained rice and the carrots, season with the salt and cinnamon and bring to a boil. Cover and cook over medium-low heat for about 15 minutes until the rice is done.
- Stir in the parsley and serve immediately with a squeeze of lemon.
Notes
All Texts and Photos © Dina Bayoud Kohl
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