So I’ve been recovering from surgery for the last couple of weeks – all is going well! I found out I needed to have surgery in early January so I had some time to prepare. I knew that I would want some quick and easy meals that I could heat and eat not only during my immediate recovery but as I transitioned back to work. Soup of course topped my list of things to stock in my freezer. I knew I wanted to make something with a homemade broth so, I went to Costco and bought 2 rotisserie chickens. I started with Mom’s Chicken and Dumpling Soup it’s one of my favorites. And then because I had extra chicken and carrots, onions and celery I figured why not make some Chicken Wild Rice Soup. Well turns out I bought more carrots, onion and celery then I needed so why not also make Cheddar Veggie Chowder.
When I was finished with these three soups, I still had some chicken leftover, so I started looking for ideas of other soups to make. And I ended up stumbling on Chicken and Rice Soup with Ginger and Scallions on the America’s Test Kitchen app. The ginger in the broth reminded me of one of my favorite soups of from Dinner Illustrated (#EarnsCommission) called Ginger and Beef Ramen Noodle Soup. So I decided to put my own riff on the ATK recipe.
It’s a wonderfully brothy chicken and rice soup with a hint of Asian flavors with the ginger, some lime and a little bit of soy sauce stirred in at the end and umami from some shitake mushrooms.
Now, some of the reasons that I love ATK so much are they extensively test their recipes, give scientifically based explanations for why things work and as a result their recipes are typically really good. But personal tastes still come into play and as I read the comments in their recipes I often find people making small tweaks and changes. Such was the case in this recipe, I followed some of the suggestions in the comments such as adding a little soy sauce but also some of my own tweaks like adding lime zest into the broth similar to that Dinner Illustrated recipe for a little freshness.
Here’s what you need for my version:
Start by heating some olive oil in a Dutch Oven or large saucepan over medium heat.
Add in some thinly sliced shitake mushrooms, diced onion, grated ginger and a pinch of salt and pepper.
Cook until the onions are translucent and just starting to develop some color; the mushrooms should have browned as well.
Add garlic and rice. Cook until the garlic is fragrant, about 30 seconds.
Mix together better than bullion and water to form broth. Add broth, scraping up any browned bits at the bottom of the pan. Add in some lime zest and the stems of a bunch of cilantro. Now, I know that the flavor of cilantro is diluted when you cook it but since we’re going to use the chopped leaves as a garnish, I figured why not.
Simmer until the rice is almost tender, about 10-12 minutes.
Remove lime zest and cilantro stems.
Add some shredded chicken – in my case leftover rotisserie chicken, and some sliced scallions.
Stir in the juice of one lime and a little bit of soy sauce to taste.
Serve with chopped cilantro for garnish.
I froze the leftovers. A word of warning, when you freeze the rice it will continue to absorb some liquid and become very soft and start to break. I saw this in the comments on the ATK app and some people enjoyed it some people didn’t. I liked the way it thawed out. If you’re afraid of that – then I recommend serving this as a single meal.
- 1 T olive oil
- 1 onion, finely chopped
- 4 oz, shitake mushrooms, stemmed and sliced thin
- 2 T grated ginger (grates best from frozen)
- Salt
- Pepper
- ⅔ c jasmine rice
- 2 cloves garlic, grated
- 8 cups water
- 3 T Better than Bullion
- 1 lime, zest taken off in strips
- ½ c fresh cilantro, stems tied into a bundle and leaves chopped
- 3 cups of shredded chicken
- 3 scallions, whites sliced thin and green parts cut into 1 inch pieces
- 1 T soy sauce
- Heat oil over medium heat in a dutch oven.
- Add onion, mushroom, ginger, salt and pepper (about a half teaspoon of each) and cook until mushrooms are brown and onions are translucent and beginning to brown.
- Add rice and garlic, sauté for about 30 second until garlic is fragrant.
- Heat half of the water and stir in the better than bullion until dissolved. Add the bullion mixture and remaining water. Scrape the bottom of the pan to remove the browned bits. Add the lime and cilantro stems.
- Bring to a simmer, cover and cook for 10-12 minutes until rice is almost tender.
- Remove cilantro stems and lime zest.
- Add chicken and scallions and cook for another two minutes until heated through.
- Remove from heat and stir in the juice of the lime and soy sauce. Taste and adjust seasoning.
- Serve with chopped cilantro for garnish.
[…] lot has happened in the break since I last posted (well, except for the Ginger Chicken & Rice Soup that I just posted). Perhaps one of the most significant is the birth of Tory’s daughter, my […]