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1.2kg hard/stewing* chicken, cleaned and cut
Spices & Herbs
1 teaspoon dried oregano or 7 fresh leafs
I teaspoon dried thyme (1 sprig fresh thyme)
1 teaspoon cumin
5 cloves
1 calabash nutmeg
2 grains of selim
1 tablespoon fresh rosemary/1 teaspoon dried rosemary
7 small sage leafs or 1 teaspoon dried sage
For the marinade
All the spices & herbs
1 large onion
Red chili peppers (I used red for color so you can use any chili type available)
1 thumb sized ginger (1 tablespoon)
1 garlic bulb
I like to mix up my herbs, I mostly use a mix of fresh and dried herbs in my recipes.
You could do the same in this recipe,it doesn’t necessarily need to be fresh sage or rosemary. It just turns out that those were the only fresh herbs I had on deck. You could use fresh thyme or oregano, there should be at least one fresh herb in there.
For the soup
2 medium very ripe fresh tomatoes
1 garden egg , divide into 2
1 small carrot, divided into 3
(substitute with garden egg if unavailable) 2 star anise
1 tablespoon tomato paste
1 extra garden egg, sliced (will be added to the soup almost at the end, optional)
Directions
Blend all the ingredients for the marinade into a very smooth paste (use as little water as possible to blend). Place chicken in a pot and pour marinade over chicken cuts and add salt. Rinse the blender with 1/2 a cup of water and pour over chicken. Allow it to sit for 20 mins.
To make the soup, place pot over medium heat, allow it to come up to a simmer then continue simmering for 5 minutes then add 5 cups of water such that the chicken sub- merges completely. Add the veggies (carrot, tomato and garden egg) and star anise. When soup begins to boil scoop the foam that floats on the surface (get as much out of it as you can).
Remove veggies when they’re completely soft, after about 40 mins and blend with one cup of water into a smooth paste. Pass through a fine sieve and add back to soup. Add the tomato paste and turn heat to low. Cover and allow soup to continue simmering. Scoop any foam off the surface of the soup. Taste and adjust salt. Keep eyes on the soup, if it’s getting a bit too thick add a bit of water. Taste and adjust salt every time you add water.
Allow soup to cook gently until meat is tender then add the sliced garden eggs if using any. Keep simmering until garden eggs get soft. Add a pinch of sugar if soup is a bit too sour (I didn’t need it in mine because my tomatoes were quite ripe and sweet). Add more water if soup is too thick or let it cook longer if too light. Taste, adjust salt then turn off heat.
*Serve soup warm with my cumin rice , turmeric rice or my tea bread.
