Chicken Turmeric Soup

Chicken turmeric soup is an excellent restorative soup, using leftover roast chicken from the weekend roast whilst turning into a healing, comfort soup when mixed with turmeric and coconut milk.

30 minutes

30 minutes +

Stove top cooking

Ingredients

500g leftover roast chicken

- skin removed, shredded
Spices
2 tsp fennel seeds
2 tsp black peppercorns
Liquid
400ml tin coconut milk
200ml cold water

- or light chicken stock
1 fresh lime

- juice only
Pinch of sea salt
Other
3 tbsp extra virgin olive oil

- or coconut oil
1 large red onion

- finely chopped
5 curry leaves
2 green bird’s-eye chillies

- cut in half lengthways
4 cloves garlic

- finely chopped
100g fresh tomatoes

- roughly chopped
1 tsp ground turmeric

- or grated fresh
100g kale

- washed, finely shredded

Instructions

Prepare spices:
01 In a pestle and mortar, grind the fennel seeds and black peppercorns to a coarse powder and set aside.
Make soup:
02 Heat the oil in a heavy-bottomed saucepan over a medium heat. Add the onions and fry for 6–7 minutes. Add the curry leaves and green chillies and fry, stirring, for a few seconds. Stir in the garlic, fry for a minute then add the tomatoes and cook for 5 minutes. Stir well, making sure they don’t stick to the bottom of the pan. Add the turmeric, ground fennel and peppercorns and stir well. Pour in 200ml water, bring to the boil and simmer on a low heat for 1 minute. Add the shredded chicken and season with salt. Stir in the coconut milk and simmer for 4–5 minutes. Add the thinly sliced kale and the lime juice, stir well and simmer for a further 5 minutes until the kale is tender.
Serve:
03 Ladle hot into suitable bowls and serve either on its own or with the addition of freshly boiled jasmine rice for extra nutritional value and comfort.