Adapted from The Complete Asian Cookbook by Charmaine Solomon
3 lb. chicken parts
8 c. cold water
3 tsp. salt
1/2 tsp. whole black peppercorns
few celery tops
2 onions
2 T. peanut oil
2 fresh red chiles, seeded & chopped
6 curry leaves
2 cloves garlic, crushed
1 tsp. grated fresh ginger
1 tsp. dried shrimp paste
1 tsp. ground turmeric
1 1/2 T. ground coriander
2 t. ground cumin
1/2 tsp. ground fennel
1/2 tsp. ground black pepper
1/2 tsp. ground nutmeg
lemon juice to taste
2 small bundles egg noodles
Garnish: 3 hard boiled eggs, chopped
6 cloves garlic, sliced and fried
8 sliced green onions
fried dried chiles
crumbled potato chips
sambal olek
Wash chicken parts and put in pot with cold water, salt, peppercorns, celery tops and one onion. Bring to a boil, then reduce heat, cover and simmer for 35-40 min. or until chicken is tender. Strain stock into a bowl. Remove bones and skin from chicken parts and cut into small pieces, then set aside. Heat peanut oil in large pot, slice the other onion and fry it in the oil with the chiles and curry leaves until the onion is soft and starts to brown. Add garlic, ginger, shrimp paste and fry, crushing shrimp paste with a spoon. Add the ground spices and fry for a few seconds longer. Add the strained stock, bring to a boil, then reduce heat, cover and simmer for 10 min. Add lemon juice to taste. Cook the egg noodles in boiling water for 5 min., then drain and add to soup together with the chicken meat. Serve in bowls and garnish with the hard boiled eggs, fried garlic, green onions, potato chips. Add sambal carefully each bowl to get the heat you desire.
This soup is absolutely delicious! The Spicy African Chicken and Peanut Soup had been my favorite so far, but this one is just as good. Perhaps "spicy chicken" in the name bodes well. I used 3 lbs. of boneless, skinless chicken breast and it made for a very rich broth. Since there were no bones or skin it seemed like a lot of meat so when the broth was done I fished one breast out and fed it to my husband. (Okay, that sounds strange!) For the chiles I used 3 red serranos from my last summer's harvest that were in the freezer. Freezing chiles definitely seems to temper the heat but since the sambal olek goes in as a garnish I figured that would ramp it up. I could not find the shrimp paste I thought was in the pantry so instead used a couple of tsps. of some really thick Vietnamese anchovy sauce, figuring what was important was the funky fishiness. I used the juice of two whole lemons for the "lemon juice to taste" and it was perfect. For everything else I stuck to the recipe.
I used chopped hard-boiled egg, chopped green onion, sambal olek and fried garlic as garnishes and they really make it special. The garlic was sliced very thin and fried at quite a low heat in peanut oil until it was light brown (I could eat a lot of this all by itself!). I had just bought a jar of sambal olek so it was really nice and fresh and spicy. For a good-sized bowl of soup I used about a tablespoon, but of course this was for someone who loves hot chile! Crushed potato chips were suggested as garnish in the original recipe but soggy smashed chips did not appeal to me.
This is is actually quite a hearty soup because of the noodles and the amount of chicken, but because of all the lemon juice and the wonderful spices it tastes light and healthy. I will definitely make this one again!
Perfect soup for a snow day - which this ended up being. I went to class this morning, then all of metro Boston closed down because of heavy snowfall to be followed by freezing rain.
As I said in a previous post, I'm always looking for ways to use the habaneros in my freezer, which are from my mom's garden. They are simply too overpowering to use in most dishes, but because I knew this recipe would make quite a lot of soup I thought one habanero would actually work better than several milder chiles. This was a good move - the soup is definitely spicy (I did not seed and de-vein the habanero), but not overly so.
I found what turned out to be a very nice shrimp paste at the grocery store. My previous experience with shrimp paste resulted in disaster. When I was in high school, my mom bought a really beautiful Asian cookbook full of color photos. We decided to make an attractive-looking eggplant dish from this book that called for shrimp paste in it, and it started out really promising - until we added the paste. We ended up tossing the entire skillet of food into the trash. Its odor was so vile and pungent that I believe we opened up all the windows for several hours even though it was quite cold out. So I was hesitant to use it here but I think I've found a paste that is a lot less potent - a Thai paste in oil. I'm actually looking forward to cooking more things with it.
I used one very large lemon to brighten up the soup and threw in cooked lo mein noodles at the end. I also topped my soup with hard-boiled egg, green onion, sambal oelek, and fried garlic. When I was looking for shrimp paste in the Asian section of the grocery store, I also came across jars of fried garlic and fried onion. I thought a jar of fried garlic would actually prove useful for quite a few dishes - as a garnish for stir fries, for example. The garlic is shelf-stable and somewhat similar in consistency to French's fried onions (though not nearly as salty).
My one problem with the dish was really my fault. I simmered the chicken either too long, or at too high a temperature. This resulted in a lovely broth, but the chicken itself was overcooked. So if you make this, be sure to check the meat as it simmers so you don't get past the pleasantly tender stage. Even with this problem, the soup is extremely good - and just what I needed on a cold, snowy winter day!
3 lb. chicken parts
8 c. cold water
3 tsp. salt
1/2 tsp. whole black peppercorns
few celery tops
2 onions
2 T. peanut oil
2 fresh red chiles, seeded & chopped
6 curry leaves
2 cloves garlic, crushed
1 tsp. grated fresh ginger
1 tsp. dried shrimp paste
1 tsp. ground turmeric
1 1/2 T. ground coriander
2 t. ground cumin
1/2 tsp. ground fennel
1/2 tsp. ground black pepper
1/2 tsp. ground nutmeg
lemon juice to taste
2 small bundles egg noodles
Garnish: 3 hard boiled eggs, chopped
6 cloves garlic, sliced and fried
8 sliced green onions
fried dried chiles
crumbled potato chips
sambal olek
Wash chicken parts and put in pot with cold water, salt, peppercorns, celery tops and one onion. Bring to a boil, then reduce heat, cover and simmer for 35-40 min. or until chicken is tender. Strain stock into a bowl. Remove bones and skin from chicken parts and cut into small pieces, then set aside. Heat peanut oil in large pot, slice the other onion and fry it in the oil with the chiles and curry leaves until the onion is soft and starts to brown. Add garlic, ginger, shrimp paste and fry, crushing shrimp paste with a spoon. Add the ground spices and fry for a few seconds longer. Add the strained stock, bring to a boil, then reduce heat, cover and simmer for 10 min. Add lemon juice to taste. Cook the egg noodles in boiling water for 5 min., then drain and add to soup together with the chicken meat. Serve in bowls and garnish with the hard boiled eggs, fried garlic, green onions, potato chips. Add sambal carefully each bowl to get the heat you desire.
Ann's Version
This soup is absolutely delicious! The Spicy African Chicken and Peanut Soup had been my favorite so far, but this one is just as good. Perhaps "spicy chicken" in the name bodes well. I used 3 lbs. of boneless, skinless chicken breast and it made for a very rich broth. Since there were no bones or skin it seemed like a lot of meat so when the broth was done I fished one breast out and fed it to my husband. (Okay, that sounds strange!) For the chiles I used 3 red serranos from my last summer's harvest that were in the freezer. Freezing chiles definitely seems to temper the heat but since the sambal olek goes in as a garnish I figured that would ramp it up. I could not find the shrimp paste I thought was in the pantry so instead used a couple of tsps. of some really thick Vietnamese anchovy sauce, figuring what was important was the funky fishiness. I used the juice of two whole lemons for the "lemon juice to taste" and it was perfect. For everything else I stuck to the recipe.
I used chopped hard-boiled egg, chopped green onion, sambal olek and fried garlic as garnishes and they really make it special. The garlic was sliced very thin and fried at quite a low heat in peanut oil until it was light brown (I could eat a lot of this all by itself!). I had just bought a jar of sambal olek so it was really nice and fresh and spicy. For a good-sized bowl of soup I used about a tablespoon, but of course this was for someone who loves hot chile! Crushed potato chips were suggested as garnish in the original recipe but soggy smashed chips did not appeal to me.
This is is actually quite a hearty soup because of the noodles and the amount of chicken, but because of all the lemon juice and the wonderful spices it tastes light and healthy. I will definitely make this one again!
Cassie's Version
Perfect soup for a snow day - which this ended up being. I went to class this morning, then all of metro Boston closed down because of heavy snowfall to be followed by freezing rain.
As I said in a previous post, I'm always looking for ways to use the habaneros in my freezer, which are from my mom's garden. They are simply too overpowering to use in most dishes, but because I knew this recipe would make quite a lot of soup I thought one habanero would actually work better than several milder chiles. This was a good move - the soup is definitely spicy (I did not seed and de-vein the habanero), but not overly so.
I found what turned out to be a very nice shrimp paste at the grocery store. My previous experience with shrimp paste resulted in disaster. When I was in high school, my mom bought a really beautiful Asian cookbook full of color photos. We decided to make an attractive-looking eggplant dish from this book that called for shrimp paste in it, and it started out really promising - until we added the paste. We ended up tossing the entire skillet of food into the trash. Its odor was so vile and pungent that I believe we opened up all the windows for several hours even though it was quite cold out. So I was hesitant to use it here but I think I've found a paste that is a lot less potent - a Thai paste in oil. I'm actually looking forward to cooking more things with it.
I used one very large lemon to brighten up the soup and threw in cooked lo mein noodles at the end. I also topped my soup with hard-boiled egg, green onion, sambal oelek, and fried garlic. When I was looking for shrimp paste in the Asian section of the grocery store, I also came across jars of fried garlic and fried onion. I thought a jar of fried garlic would actually prove useful for quite a few dishes - as a garnish for stir fries, for example. The garlic is shelf-stable and somewhat similar in consistency to French's fried onions (though not nearly as salty).
My one problem with the dish was really my fault. I simmered the chicken either too long, or at too high a temperature. This resulted in a lovely broth, but the chicken itself was overcooked. So if you make this, be sure to check the meat as it simmers so you don't get past the pleasantly tender stage. Even with this problem, the soup is extremely good - and just what I needed on a cold, snowy winter day!
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