Chicken Soup for the soul!

My style of cooking is keeping it simple, fresh and maintaining a balance in a dish. This simple and refreshing chicken soup is a classic example of such cooking. I always enjoy a hot chicken broth at any time of the day, it keeps makes me feel fresh and healthy because of the nice balance of veggies and chicken/meats in it. Of course you can always make a good veggie soup with the same recipe by just omitting the chicken/meats in it.

So here goes the recipe.

Ingredients

Chicken (cooked & shredded) - 1/2 to 3/4 cup

Chicken stock - 1 cup

Garlic (crushed) - 3 to 4 cloves

Shallots (crushed) - 5 to 6

Carrot - 1 (small)

Cabbage - 2 to 3 leaves

Cauliflower - 3 to 4 florets

Salt - to taste

Pepper - 1 tsp

Oil - 1/2 tbsp

Spring onions

Water - as required (depending on quantity required. That is, if you are adding 1 cup/bowl stock, then you need to add 3 cups/bowls of water to get 4 bowls of soup)

Method

Heat oil in a cooking pot and sauté garlic and shallots for about 2 to 3 minutes on a low flame. Add chicken stock and water and let it boil. When it comes to a boil, add carrot, cabbage and cauliflower and close to cook for a few minutes. Once the veggies have been cooked, add the cooked chicken along with pepper, salt and ajinomoto and cover and cook for about 1 minute on a medium flame and 1 or 2 minutes on a low flame with the lid open. Finally, add the spring onions, cook for a minute or two and switch off flame.

Notes: Cook the chicken with salt, pepper and a small piece of ginger because ginger enhances flavour of the stock.