I made this incredibly comforting and fragrant soup on an Instagram Live with my friend Neda from @healthywithNedi. I love Asian food but unfortunately, I sometimes find myself dehydrated the day after a meal out in an Asian restaurant. They can use additives such as MSG which can cause extreme water retention!
This soup hits the spot, is easy to make and my children love it. I like using boneless chicken thighs as they add depth to the flavour but feel free to use breasts if you prefer.
Like many of my recipes, this soup is PALEO, GRAIN-FREE, GLUTEN-FREE and DAIRY-FREE.
Serves 4
1 pound / 450g of boneless chicken thighs
4 garlic cloves
2 tablespoons of garlic paste
Sesame oil
Kimchi to taste
1 Onion
4 spring onions / salad onions
1 water chestnuts can
3 bell peppers (yellow, red and orange)
1 pound / 450g of mushrooms
1 lime quartered
1 tablespoon of grated ginger
4 kaffir lime leaves crushed
1/4 cup of soy sauce (or tamari sauce)
1 liter of chicken stock or filtered water
1 handful of chopped coriander / cilantro
Optional: a slices red chilli
Konjac noodles or rice noodles to serve
Start by prepping all your vegetables. Chop the bell peppers in ring, spring onions in halves, onion in slices, garlic in slices, lime in quarters. water chestnuts in halves and mushrooms in halves. Grate the ginger. Slice the chilli is you are using it. A great tip is to have peeled fresh ginger in the freezer. It is much easier to grate.
Chop the chicken in medium size pieces. Cook the chicken in a wok style pan with 2 tablespoon of sesame oil on high heat. Take it off a couple of minutes before it is fully cooked and set aside.
In the same wok, add another tablespoon of sesame oil and cook the onion with the garlic paste for 3 minutes. Add the bell peppers, mushrooms, spring onions, water chestnuts and garlic slices. Add the chilli too at this stage if you are using it. You can also add a couple of tablespoon of kimchi now. Cover with chicken stock or water and keep the heat on high.
Add the crushed kaffir leaves, the tamarind sauce, the fresh ginger and lime. Bring to the boil and reduce the heat to medium. Let it simmer for about 30 minutes.
At this stage you van either put the noodles in the wok, cook for another couple of minutes and serve. I like to put the noodles in the bowl as I have konjac noodles and my children have fresh rice noodles. I follow with the steaming hot soup which “cooks” the noodles. This only work with fresh noodles, not dry ones. I add kimchi to my bowl and not theirs as they do not like it spicy.
Sprinkle some chopped coriander and serve.
Enjoy!
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