In winter there is nothing more comforting and soothing than a good, hearty soup. I cannot seem to get enough of it.
Good old chicken soup is my standard go-to, easily made by simmering a whole chicken with onion, carrot and celery thrown in. After all, a soup is simply letting a main meat just simmer for hours to bring out its flavor. Fresh ingredients make soup better than any store-bought broth.
I had been thinking of building up my Chicken Soup transforming it to a rice vermicelli Bee Hoon Chicken Soup. Then on Christmas eve I made borscht. I love beet and the dramatic red coloring it gives to soup. I made it from scratch with pork bones and very meaty beef ribs. Maybe, I thought, I could blog on a variation from Chicken Soup to Beef Soup, merely by varying the ingredients–chicken to beef–to my Basic Recipe.
Then I discovered something I’ve never had before. And I was sold. Mexican style chicken soup. I don’t remember what it was called on the menu but it could have been Pico de Gallo Chicken Soup.
My daughter, her husband and I went with grandson to La Cocina Mexican restaurant in Garner, NC. I was recovering from a stomach flu and didn’t feel like anything except good old soup. And the waiter recommended this. Chicken Soup Mexican style.
It was basically a good, clear, robust chicken soup made with onion, carrot and celery. What made this stand out for me–I guess it’s common to all people from Mexico but I’ve never tried it–was what they added. Pico de gallo, the waiter said. Chopped up fresh tomato, raw onion and fresh cilantro. It also had jalapeno but I asked them to omit this. For my stomach’s sake and because I can then share my soup with grandson.
The soup also had avocado. Avocado in hot soup?! I would never have thought of adding avocado. I’ve only eaten avocado the way it is. Sure, I’ve had it in a shake or a smoothie, but cooked? Weird. And wonderful. I loved it.
So when I came home I made it–adding rice, pico de gallo and avos to my basic Cantonese chicken soup. Ted loved it. A meal in itself by adding more rice to it, it’s perfect for a wintry night.
And so for all my fellow uninitiated in Asia, when hankering for good old Cantonese chicken soup like the kind our mothers and grandmothers made for us–with lotus root, water chestnut or amaranth–try this. Pico De Gallo Chicken Soup. Here is my variation to my Basic Recipe of chicken soup.
Pico de Gallo Chicken Soup
1 Basic Recipe for Chicken Soup
1½-2 cups cooked rice
1 small tomato, chopped
½ cup chopped onion
1 cup chopped cilantro
1 avocado, skinned and chopped in small cubes
1 lemon sliced into wedges
Make chicken soup, according to Basic Recipe. When chicken is tender and still firm, remove from soup. De-bone and cut meat from breast and thigh into small chunks. Set aside.
Add salt and test soup for taste. Just before serving, add rice, tomato, onions, cilantro and avocado to boiling soup.
Place chicken pieces in a serving dish. Add soup with tomato, onion and avocado. Serve immediately. Offer lemon slices at the side.