Healing Chicken Soup

Not many meals top the soothing and comforting feeling of a hearty bowl of healing chicken soup. It is actually one of the meals which my children would mention when I ask them what they would like me to cook.

There is a reason for the longstanding belief in the healing power of chicken soup which has been passed on from one generation to the next as a remedy for colds and coughs.

When I was sick as a child I was told that a bowl of warm soup would help me get healthy. Indeed, research does confirm what our great-grandmothers already knew.

Usually, we don’t feel like eating when we are sick. Soups are a great way to get some easy digestible nutrients and hydration.

How does chicken soup help?

Chicken soup contains a natural amino acid called cysteine. A form of this amino acid, called N-acetyl cysteine, is a powerful antioxidant that strengthens immunity and clears mucus. Eaten on a regular basis during wintertime this might work like a natural flu treatment.

According to Dr. Sinatra, essential to make this work are the spices garlic, hot peppers, or hot curry. The spice will trigger a release of watery fluids in mouth, throat, and lungs that will thin down respiratory mucus to make it easier to expel it.

Besides clearing mucus chicken soup has also beneficial properties to promote a healthy digestion. The gelatin in broth contains hydrophilic colloid that attracts and holds liquids, including digestive juices, supporting proper digestion. Gelatin also promotes healthy skin, hair and nail growth.

Properly cooked, the boiled down cartilage has glucosamine, chondroitin, and sulfate which can reduce joint pain and inflammation.

Amino acids like proline, glycine, and arginine found in broth have anti-inflammatory effects.

Healing Spices

• Turmeric is considered a general immune system booster due to its high antioxidant capacity.
• Garlic is used to prevent and treat colds and flu, coughs and to expel parasites.
• Ginger contains a number of immune-boosting properties. Gingerol, which is found in fresh ginger, is anti-inflammatory and anti-microbial and can decrease the symptoms associated with colds.
• Pepper contains a compound called piperine, which has the ability to boost the effectiveness of spices such as turmeric, garlic, and ginger. The liver gets rid of foreign substances by making them water soluble so they can be more easily excreted. But piperine inhibits that process.

Besides the health benefits, fresh turmeric root gives the soup a nice golden shimmer.

Healing Chicken Soup

Serves: 4-5 servings + extra broth

Cooking Time: 2-3 hours

Ingredients

• BROTH
• 1 whole chicken, organic and pasture-raised
• water, filtered or spring water
• 3 carrots, peeled and cut in half
• 1 turnip, celeriac, or parsnip root, around 1-2 cups
• 2-3 celery stalks, cut in half
• a handful of parsley
• 1 yellow onion
• 2-3 bay leaves
• fresh ginger, peeled, around a 4cm piece
• fresh turmeric root, peeled, around a 4 cm piece
• RICE/QUINOA/NOODLES as optional soup ingredients
• (add cauli-rice instead and make it a low-carb soup)
• SOUP
• 1 cup cauliflower, little pieces, shaved or in form of cauli-rice
• 1 celery stalk, finely shaved
• 1/2 cup green peas or edamame, frozen
• add chopped root vegetables from broth
• optional, 1 clove garlic, fresh, shaved or pressed
• optional, finely chopped parsley for garnish
• fresh lemon juice to taste

Instructions

1

Prepare the broth by placing the whole chicken in a large pot, with the herbs and vegetables. Cover with water.

2

Cook at a strong simmer, partially covered, for roughly 90 minutes. The chicken will be ready when the meat starts to separate easily from the bone.

3

Meanwhile, you can cook rice or quinoa which will be put on the plate later. (I usually use a mix of both)

4

Carefully take out the whole chicken and place on a big plate to cool. Separate the meat of the bones.

5

Store the chicken breast in the fridge for another meal and use the smaller pieces of meat for the soup.

6

While you do this you can cook the noodles in case your family prefers chicken soup with noodles. I cook soup ingredients such as rice, quinoa or noodles in a separate pot. It will be scooped into the soup bowl not into the soup in the pot. That way everyone can still choose what they would like in their soup and you can keep the leftover soup without having mushy rice or noodles in it the next day.

7

Or choose cauli-rice instead to make it low-carb.

8

Strain your broth and keep some of the carrots and turnip roots which you can chop and add back to the soup.

9

For the soup fill the smaller pieces of meat into another pot and add the amount of broth for the number of servings you need. I count around 2-3 ladles of broth per person. Freeze the remaining broth for later use in stews, soups or sauces.

10

Add the remaining vegetables, shaved celery stalk, peas or edamame. Boil at a low simmer until the frozen peas are heated. Cauliflower shaved or ground into cauli-rice will be cooked in no time.

11

Spice the soup to your taste. Add salt and pepper. I like to use a product called herbamare which is sea salt with powdered herbs and vegetables.

12

If you like to add garlic, I recommend doing this at the end without cooking the garlic. This will help to keep its healing compounds intact.

13

Put some rice, quinoa or noodles in your soup bowl and fill up with 1-2 scoops of the cooked soup.

14

Stir in 1-2 teaspoon of freshly squeezed lemon juice.

15

Sprinkle some parsley on top. Enjoy!

Notes

The broth is put together very fast. As well as the soup ingredients. The majority of work is separating the meat from the bones. Otherwise, it is easy to make the soup even if the instructions don't look like that. Usually, the next day I make a meal of the leftovers. Chicken breast with quinoa-rice, and a white cream sauce made with some of the broth.