Chicken Rice Noodle Soup
When I buy a chicken, it tends to be free range or organic. I think that not only does it taste better, but psychologically I enjoy it more because I know its life has not been spent cooped up. It is more expensive so I make sure each chicken lasts for 2 meals and this is often the second. If you have any chicken leftover from whatever you made with the meat, set it aside to be added to the soup. If you have no leftover chicken, it couldn’t matter less, this soup is soothing with or without.
Serves 2-4
INGREDIENTS
Stock
1 chicken carcass (or however many you have, so fit as many as you can in your largest pot. Sometimes, I freeze them so I can make a large batch)
A few peppercorns
1 bay leaf
Parsley, roasted veg, or whichever herbs you would like to flavour the stock.
Soup
700mls chicken stock above
3 tbsp fish sauce (nam pla)
1 tbsp demerara sugar (really any sugar will do)
8 spring onions
If the carcass is raw, roast it for half an hour until browned. You can equally not roast it but the stock will more subtle in flavour.
Put the carcass and all of the other ingredientes in a pot and cover it with water.
Bring to a simmer, and then put it in the oven at 150C/300F.
Leave it in the oven for about 4 hours. Or put it in the warming oven of an aga or equivalent, over night.
Turn the oven off and leave it to cool. Or take it out of the aga and leave it to cool.
Now strain the stock through a fine sieve into a bowl.
Put the bowl it the fridge so that any fat will rise to the surface. This will take a few hours.
8. Remove the bowl from the fridge and with a large metal spoon, remove the fat and put it in a dog bowl or in the compost.
9. When you are ready to make the soup, the stock in measuring jug up to 700mls. Top it up with water to 700mls if there is not enough. If there is too much, the remainder can be used within a week or put it in the freezer.
10. Pour the stock into a pan and heat it through.
11. Add 3 tbsp fish sauce and 1 tbsp sugar.
12. Taste to check this is perfect.
13. Add 2 nests of rice noodles and heat through until softened.
14. Chop spring onions with scissors, into the soup, and add cooked chicken if you have any leftover.
15. Serve with coriander, and add chopped chilli if you like.
