Clear out your medicine cabinet and pull out your cutting board, here is a recipe for one of the most healthful and most delicious Mexican style soups you can make!  It’s simple to cook and very easy to eat, full of all the flavor you want and none of the guilt you don’t. 

Ingredients

• 1 large pot to cook in
• 2 cutting boards
• 2 knives
• 2 stirring spoons
• 3 chicken breasts
• 3 chicken legs (can be replaced with thighs)
• 1-2 full sized carrots
• 1-2 full sized red potatoes
• 1-2 sticks of celery
• 1 handfull of mushrooms (any kind)
• 1 chayote (mexican vegtable)
• 1 green squash (calabaza)
• 1 full ear of corn
• 1 onion (whatever color is available)
• 1-2 tomatoes
• 1 handfull of cilantro
• 3 whole cloves of garlic
• 2-3 jalapeno peppers
• 1 tblespn of olive oil (or canola)
• salt
• pepper
• Chicken flavored bouillon (available in spices, usually in Mexican aisle)
• Garlic Salt
• Cayenne or Chilli seasoning
• Ground Cumin (also known as Comino)

Here’s a photo of Chayote, a vegetable that is in the squash family and can be eaten cooked or raw.

And here’s a photo of Chicken Bouillon, Knorr brand which I swear by and use in everything!

Preparation

Set your pot to boil with a good amount of water, consider water displacement for how much chicken and vegetable you are going to use.  You could fill it about three quarters full.  While you are waiting chop up your tomato, onion, garlic, cilantro and jalapeno.  Also gather all of your seasonings together and add them, along with your chopped vegetables into the pot.  When the water is boiling add your pieces of chicken.  For now leave the chicken breasts whole, but later they will be shredded.

As for the rest of the vegetables you can omit or add in anything you like to customize your soup.  Mexican chicken soup doesn’t usually use mushrooms but I found that I like the texture and it adds nutrients!  The only vegetables that you will not be chopping and adding into the soup now are your mushroom and your green squash (calabaza).  Those go in much later, when there are about ten to fifteen minutes left for the soup to cook.  You can chop up the vegetables however you like, I tend to chop them into tiny cubes to make eating the soup easier.  As far as the corn, you can divide it into sections or lop off all of the kernels so that everyone gets a bit of kernels in their soup.  Add the vegetables and cover the soup for about ten to fifteen minutes, until chicken looks done.

Here is the fun part!  Carefully so as not to burn yourself, remove the chicken breasts and let them cool.  Use a seperate knife and cutting board for this step then your vegetables.  You can run cool water over them so as not to waste too much time.  Here you have the choice of cubing the chicken into pieces or shredding it.  I choose to cube them whenever I am pressed for time and can’t shred the pieces finely enough. 

Once you’re done replace the chicken back into the pot and test the vegetables to see how done they are.  If they are almost done then you can slice the mushrooms and green squash (calabaza), instead of dicing, and add them.  At this stage it is also a good idea to test the flavor of the soup, add your seasonsings to taste or none at all if you want a lower sodium soup.  Cover the soup and let it simmer for about ten more minutes or until your liking.  Remember, once the chicken is cooked to use a seperate stirring spoon from the first one you were using, so as not to transfer bacteria from the raw chicken when you serve or taste the soup.

This is a photo of what typical Mexicn chicken soup looks like.  It’s okay if yours doesn’t, don’t worry, myne doesn’t usually either!

Another idea

It is typical to add cooked, Spanish style rice to each bowl of soup, which makes the soup more hardy and filling.  It depends on individual tastes as to what kind of consistency you want for your soup.  If you don’t know how to make Spanish style rice, you can make an easy pot of white rice to add.  Here is a simple recipe for white rice.  You can also eat with corn toritillas, though this will add a few more calories to your meal!  Some people also squeeze lime juice over their soup, which will take the flavor up even more.

Ingredients

• 1 small pot
• 1 tblespn of olive oil (or canola)
• 1 cup of long grain white rice
• 1 cube or tblespn of Chicken Bouillon (or 2 cups of chicken broth)
• 1/2 an onion (diced)
• 2 cloves of garlic (diced)

Preparation

Add oil to pot and lightly fry onion, garlic, seasoning (Chicken Bouillon), and rice for about five minutes or until rice is a little golden.  Pour in broth and let boil.  Whenever it is at a rolling boil, cover it tightly and turn down to simmer for about fifteen to eighteen minutes.  Use more broth for softer rice and less broth for firmer rice.

Here’s a photo of Spanish style rice and at the bottom is a beautiful plate of white rice.