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The Big Flop- Soup 12 Asian Chicken Soup
Let me start off by saying that I didn't follow the instructions letter for letter on this soup. I don't think that was the fundamental flaw that leads me to say that this is the worst soup I have made so far. The recipe wanted the broth to be made separately and then poured over the vegetables and rice in individual bowls. I thought that was dumb and took away from the big pot appeal that is soup making. So I made it all together in a pot and for the first night the consistency was fine. The next night I went for the leftovers and wow if the instant rice didn't turn mushy and absorb all the remaining broth. That being said we ate it, added soy sauce and thought of it more as overcooked asian rice bowls. INSTANT RICE IS THE DEVIL FOR SOUP! It has its place but in my delicious soup is not one of them. Also the taste and flavor of the soup was bland. It was pretty on the first night and looked gorgeously exotic. I wanted to photograph it in tiny saki cups with a fortune cookie and chop sticks (chop sticks for that touch of irony... bc eating soup with chopsticks would be the most frustrating thing since WalMart) But the taste and leftover disaster in no way makes up for the presentation factor.
Asian Chicken Soup- #12
2 cups chicken broth 1/4 cup light toasted Asian sesame dressing (by Kraft) 2 cups cooked chicken 2 tsp soy sauce 1 cup cooked rice (don't make the same mistake I did and use instant) 2 cups frozen stir fry veggies (I used snap pea blend) I added a pinch (1/8 to a 1/4 tsp of ground red pepper to give it a kick- and it was still bland!) Cook your rice. Then add broth and seasonings to the pot, add in chicken and simmer until veggies are done. You don't want them mushy, just snap tender like stir fry. This is probably another reason this soup reheated so poorly. Well lesson learned, I think this one could be made well but as I have many more soups to simmer, I shall move on and perhaps attempt another asian soup another day. Right now I am working on Soup 13- Beef Barley, and have groceries for Soup 14- Healthy Chicken and Dumpling Stew.
We didn't eat much rice when I was growing up and the only kind we had was Minute Rice. I thought it was fine until I tried the real thing. My favorite white rice is Zatarain's brand which is par-boiled. It cooks in 20 minutes and the texture is perfect. I try to use mostly organic brown rice for nutrition's sake but some dishes are better with white (like my awesome jambalaya) and I haven't found any better than Zatarain's. I can't find it here in town so I stock up in Norman.
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