Christmas is not Christmas if not spent with Family and this year my sister served up the following recipe. I am sure there have been times when she wanted to kill me and I am more than sure that this was not one of them as she first served the soup to her mother in law.
The soup was pretty good, I rate it Michelle Pfeiffer pretty.
This provided recipe does not call for anything you don’t already have in your larder or have easy access to via a quick trip to your local grocer, supermarket, specialist herb dealer (in certain states only) or knock on the neighbours door.
After some consultation with a random lady in the shop who had a trolley full of healthy stuff, I was reassured that it was perfectly ok to use lemon juice and pepper instead of lemon pepper in the cream of tomato soup, which I used instead of tomato soup as it had cream in it and was half the price.
Then as I rounded a corner her nemesis informed me that she had been eavesdropping and using the rind of the lemon would be a better option, her trolley was equally as impressive. All I needed was a TV crew and we could have a Squid game run off right there in the isle.
Most of the rest of the stuff I had in the cupboards, freezer or under the couch. Unfortunately my pack of sweetcorn was empty so I ended up picking out kernels from a packet of mixed vegetables. I stopped at 20 as it got laborious and I didn’t think you guys would care.
Ingredients
Pre-mix the following – saves time having to grab all the bottles and work it out while your chicken is burning
- 1 teaspoon ground cumin
- 2 teaspoons chili powder
- 1 teaspoon salt
- 1/2 teaspoon lemon pepper
Sauté the following – That means fry quickly on a high heat for a short time
- One bunch green onions – If you are English these are salad onions
- Chopped green chillies – I’m half the man you are and used one, go on use two I dare you
- 2 Cloves of garlic – A clove a one of the little slices, not the whole damned bulb.
- 2 Table spoons of oil
Then add in
- 2 cups of chopped up chicken – This by coincidence is one whole chicken
- 14.5 oz of diced tomatoes – That’s a can , just use 1 can of diced tomatoes
- 1 can tomato soup
- 1 can rotel tomatoes – That’s diced tomatoes with chillies in it
- 10.75 oz beef broth – Mix a stock cube into 1/2 a can of boiling water *
- 10.75 oz chicken broth – Mix a stock cube into 1/2 a can of boiling water *
- 1/2 can water
- 2 teaspoons Worcestershire sauce
- 1 Average bag of frozen corn
* Pick whichever empty can you like.
And then add in the spices you pre-mixed.
Cooking adjustments
This recipe feeds as many as it needs to, upon sampling it appears one chicken is plenty for one person and the stated amounts of liquid, which feeds 3 comfortably and 4 if you have a salad and a few slices of bread.
My rough take on quantity is 1 can of liquid per person plus one can because why the hell not. If you had 6 people add in another can of soup and maybe one of water and tomato puree. There is not much that can go wrong here folks. If you really want, add in two cans of soup and go mad.
Once chicken for 4 is plenty, one for 6 is plenty enough.
Don’t believe everything you read, not all ingredients were readily available from anywhere or anyone I knew.
I used 1 teaspoon of chilli flakes instead of chilli powder, 1/2 a teaspoon ground pepper and the rind of a lemon.
And what kind of recipe called for a tin of chopped tomatoes and chopped chilli and then also a tin of chopped tomatoes with chilli, so yea I dumped the can of rotel tomatoes. I had to look it up and then was not disappointed when I could not find it in the store.
I suspect that 1 medium bag of frozen corn means 1 cup, my bags come in 1 or 2 kg’s, my sister says 3-4 cups will do, lets all agree on 3/4 a cup of sweetcorn per person is sufficient.
I didn’t add in the extra 1/2 cup of water as I figured there was plenty in there already, but it’s in the recipe so you do you and I do me.
Outcome
Well sis I did it, I knocked out my first soup while jetlagged and still needing a shower.
If I had to rate it, it say it was a ooh yea, lets get some more, after all I’m not wasting a chicken.
My only regret was the 20 kernels of sweetcorn, when I crunched into one it was something out of this world, I will so put in a whole half of a 1kg bag next time.
It was spicy, but not that burn your mouth till it bleeds spicy, it was just I can taste it spicy spicy. If you are not into chilli, just don’t add the powder or chilli. Personally and I don’t like super hot foods and it was awesome.
If I could give you a gif with 1-10 red chilli’s on it indicating the level of awesomeness it would have to be a 3, possibly even a 2.
My sister told me its ok to add sweetcorn to the leftovers when warming it up. I wont be adding 3-4 cups per bowl.
I forgot
You can add in tortillas to thicken up the soup, I have no idea why its called tortilla soup, anyone reading this recipe would know that its a chicken tomato soup. But we are where we are and it is what it is.
The legal bit
This recipe does not contain nuts, unless you added them and then its not this recipe. You bought the ingredients, you mixed them, you take responsibility for your actions. I in no way guarantee you will like this, if you do we can be friends, if you don’t we can still be friends you just cannot sue me.
Image stolen from greedygourmet.com who has a great Chinese Chicken and Sweetcorn Soup. I think she knows what she is doing.