Chicken Soup with Leeks and Rice
This takes HOURS. The result is extremely tasty, however, and well worth the trouble. Serves a whole lot of people - I lost track because one of the kids who was over had 5 servings on his own. Make this in the biggest pot you own. I used a 12 L pot, and it was almost not enough.
Ingredients
3 Chicken Legs, fat trimmed and skin removed
1 Box of Chicken broth
1 TBSP salt
5 Cups chopped leeks
1 1/2 cups of fragrant rice
3/4 pot of water - add as necessary.
Instructions
Bring the water to a boil, add chicken and salt. Turn the heat down to medium, close the lid, and let it boil for 30 minutes. You’re trying to make a nice base for everything else. Set the chicken aside. Add rice to the pot, stir, bring to a boil again, then simmer until rice is cooked. Add the rest of the ingredients (strip the chicken and throw that in as well) and simmer until you can’t distinguish individul pieces of rice in the soup. Add water as you go along to thin it out, stirring often.
You should end up with a creamy texture and a soup that holds the heat in. Stu calls it "atomic chicken soup" because it’ll burn your tongue even if you’ve already left it on the counter to cool for 15 minutes. I like to garnish it with chopped green onions.
This is actually my version of the Chinese congee, which is a traditional breakfast food in China, served with fried breadsticks. It is easy on the stomach; it’s practically pre-digested, with all that boiling. It warms you up on a cold winter day, and wakes you up on a warm day with some lettice and peanuts.
