Sweet Corn Chicken Soup

My childhood memories of family dinner outings have always been kickstarting it with soup and it always had to be one specific soup "Chicken Manchow Soup" which was our favorite as kids. My Father on other hand, always had a personal liking for Sweet Corn Chicken Soup. He was always an enigmatic personality who never followed the regular norm. We as kids always look upto to our parents and always want to follow their steps, be their look alike. But this one thing about my father I always wondered, what is it in this soup that makes it different than other tantalizing soup recipes.

After thinking about it for so long and having wondered about the reason behind it, I finally found the answer. The reason my father loved it so much was because of its "Simplicity", "Uncomplicated". My father always followed the principle of "Simple Living and High Thinking". This soup purely did justice to his principle and his choices in life.

When I got to know about my husband's love for this recipe, I thought to myself why not I give it a try and pay and Ode to my father and his love for this dish. So here it is, Recipe for Sweet Corn Chicken Soup.

 

Ingredients:

1 cup Corn Kernels boiled

1/2 cup  chopped Spring Onions (Keep the onion part separate from leaves)

Handful of sliced Onions (OPTIONAL)

1 Chicken Breast 

1 tbsp Pepper Powder

2 Eggs 

1 tsp Cornflour

3-4 minced Garlic

Salt

Oil to cook

NOTE: I have not used all of the spring onions leaves, I have kept them aside as it would be overpowering in the soup. Also in the picture I have included only primary ingredients, but have used all the other ingredients mentioned in the recipe.

Method:

Clean the chicken breast and apply salt and pepper and keep aside for 30 mins.

In a pot take 3 cups of water and on medium flame let it come to a boil.

When he water is hot enough add marinated chicken breast to it and let it cook for 30 mins on medium flame while checking on it in intervals. This step is called as Poaching.

With the help of a fork check if the chicken is cooked. If the fork goes through the chicken without any issue then the chicken is cooked.

Remove the chicken from the water and store the water for future steps in the process. This water will act as a "Chicken Stock".

Once the chicken cools down with the help of your hand, start tearing apart the chicken breast in shredded form. 

Take the boiled corn kernels and with the help of mixer grind the corn kernels into a rough paste. Keep a handful of corn kernels aside to add it as a whole in soup.

In a pot add 2 tbsp Oil and let it heat up on medium flame. Add minced garlic and spring onions (just the onion part and not the leaves) to the oil.

Let it cook for 5 mins and be careful not to burn the garlic. 

Add the grounded corn to the pot and give it a good mix. Let it cook for 5 mins on low flame.

Add the chicken stock to the pot that we kept aside earlier. If you want you can add 1 cup of more market bought chicken stock or vegetable stock or water. I just added 1 cup extra warm water.

Mix all ingredients well. Add handful of spring onion leaves to the pot. "DO NOT ADD EXCESS OF THE SPRING ONION LEAVES".

Let the mixture come to a boil, once the ingredients come to a boil add shredded chicken. Mix it well and let the soup boil for another 10 mins on low flame. 

Check the seasoning and adjust if required. Add the whole corn kernels that we kept aside at this point.

While the ingredients are boiling, we need to prepare the cornflour slurry.

In a bowl add 3 tbsp of water and mix it into a fine paste. Make sure to remove all lumps from the mixture.

Add the mixture to the pot and give it a good mix. Let the soup cook on low flame. 

Now with flame low or you can turn it off as well. Break an egg into the soup and quickly stir it.

If required add salt and pepper to the soup and serve hot.