Anti-Inflammatory Chicken Soup (Chorba)
If your body needs just a little digestive break, this clear soup with poached chicken, inspired by chorba, or North African soup, can help ease your system back to life. The soup contains two anti-inflammatory compounds, ginger, and turmeric, while ginger has the added benefit of helping with digestion. The soup is luxurious and warming, just what you need for a reboot.
Servings: Four Bowls
INGREDIENTS
1 1/2 lbs chicken thighs, bone in, skin removed
1 tablespoon olive oil
1/2 teaspoon ground coriander
1/4 teaspoon ground cumin
1/4 teaspoon paprika
1/4 teaspoon turmeric
1-inch knob of ginger, sliced
1 white onion, quartered
4 cups low-sodium chicken broth
salt and pepper
pine nuts (optional garnish)
parsley (optional garnish)
My kids' thoughts:
1 handful of rice vermicelli
1 carrot, peeled and sliced
PREPARATION
1 Combine coriander, cumin, paprika, and turmeric in a small bowl.
2 Dry the chicken thighs with a paper towel and sprinkle each side generously with the spice mixture, salt, and pepper.
3 Heat a large stock pot to medium and add the olive oil. Place the chicken thighs in the pot and let them cook for about 5 minutes until they can pull easily from the pot. Flip and cook for another 3 minutes.
4 Remove the chicken and put on a plate. Add the onions, ginger, and broth* (see note about broth) to the pot and deglaze. Bring broth to a boil and then simmer for 5 minutes to concentrate the flavors.
5 Place the chicken back into the pot and cook for 20 minutes. Remove the chicken and strain the soup (I used a cheesecloth to get out the charred bits). Ladle soup into bowl along with one piece of chicken. Garnish with parsley and pine nuts.
Alt-version:
1 Either steam some carrots and put them in the bowl with noodles or you can cook them with the soup after you've strained it and separated out the carrot-free soup.
2 Cook the rice vermicelli according to the directions. (Usually, you place them in a large bowl with hot water for 5-10 minutes or until soft. This will depend on the size of the noodle.) Drain the noodles and place in the bowl of soup.
NOTES
You can add 2 more cups of broth here for a total of 6 before concentrating the flavors, if your kids want more broth with their noodles, otherwise the flavor is nice and sharp at 4 cups of broth, but that may not be enough liquid for some people.
