Sweet Corn Chicken Soup

Sweet corn chicken soup - one of those soups that gives a meaning to "Chicken Soup for the Soul". It has all the goodness in it to bring your spirits up - especially on a gloomy cold night. After tomato soup this would have been one of my earliest memories of soup consumption - especially in a restaurant. There's something about the smell, the texture, the consistency and of course the flavour. So without much further ado - here's how to prepare sweet corn chicken soup - restaurant style - at home.

Ingredients

1. Sweet corn - fresher the better. If not a frozen packet would do just fine. (2 cups)
2. Chicken - Boneless - either thigh or breast pieces - thinly sliced or cubed
3. Chicken stock - either store bought or stock made out of boiling chicken with bones for about an hour.
4. Vinegar - 1 tablespoon
5. Garlic - minced (1 tablespoon)
6. Corn Flour - 50 gms
7. Eggs - 2 (beaten)
8. Milk - 1/2 cup
9. Sesame oil - few tablespoons
10. Spring onions (for garnish)

Method

1. Take about 3/4th - 1 cup of the sweet corn and pulse it to create a rough / chunky mixture.
2. In a large sauce pan or wok heat the sesame oil and saute the chicken and garlic for a few minutes. Saute until the pinkness is vanished in the chicken.
3. Add the vinegar and give it quick toss.
4. Add the sweet corn (whole and the chunky mixture) and saute for a few minutes.
5. Add the chicken stock and milk and bring it to a boil.
6. While the chicken stock is boiling, create a corn flour slurry by mixing water to the corn flour - about 1/4 cup.
7. Once the stock has come to a boil add the corn flour slurry and let the soup thicken up for a few minutes. I like my soups thick - so if the consistency is not thick enough for you, prepare more corn flour slurry and add it to the soup.
8. Once the soup is thick enough pour the beaten eggs in a circular fashion around the soup and stir it around in ONE direction with a fork. This should create the "egg flower" - which BTW is also another name for this soup in Chinese restaurants.
9. Simmer the soup for 2-3 minutes.
10. Serve hot with a garnish of spring onions.

Note: Some people like to have this with a bit of chilli vinegar mixed for a bit of a tangy and spicy flavour. If you would like it - just chop of a few green chillies in a few tablespoons of vinegar before you start this process.

Restaurant style - Indo Chinese - Sweet Corn Chicken soup ready!!

Happy Cooking!!

C

Chewy Crunchy and Fudgy Chocolate Brownies

Can anyone not like chocolate? Especially when heaps of the cocoa goodness is mixed with egg, butter and sugar - that's simply an irresistible combination. Thanks to the likes of Max Brenners and Oliver Browns we've been exposed to some good variety of chocolate fudges and brownies. Thanks to the school holidays kids and I - this time it was just the boys who wanted to experiment some brownies at home. While researching I realized there were 2 schools of brownies - the fudgy and the cakey. I thought why not introduce a 3rd school which lies somewhere in between and also crunchy as well. So without further ado, here comes the recipe.

Ingredients

1. Chocolate chips - 225 gms
2. Butter - 170 gms (3/4 cups)
3. Brown Sugar - 250 gms (1 1/4 cups) (I used brown sugar for the extra moistness / fudginess - you can use normal sugar too)
4. Eggs - 2
5. All purpose flour (Maida) - 95 gms (1/2 cup)
6. Cocoa powder / Hot Chocolate - 30 gms (1/2 cup)
7. Vanilla essence - 2 teaspoons
8. Salt - 1 teaspoon
9. Walnuts and pecans - 1/2 cup

Method

1. Preheat the oven to 180 deg C (or 350 deg F) - slightly less if it is fan forced
2. Boil water in a medium sized sauce pan.
3. Place a ceramic bowl on top of the boiling plan and melt the butter and half of the chocolate chips.
4. Once well mixed and melted keep aside and mix the sugar and vanilla essence in. Keep stirring until the sugar is all mixed up.
5. Leave the mixture to cool down for about 10-15 minutes.
6. Mix the eggs one at a time - not beating / mixing it too hard. The key here is not to overmix.
7. Sift the flour, cocoa powder and salt and fold it in slowly into the chocolate mixture.
8. Mix the remaining chocolate chips, walnuts and pecans and fold it in. Do not mix it too hard.
9. Line a baking tray (preferably square) with baking/parchment paper and transfer the batter into the parchment paper.
10. Bake for 20-25 minutes - as always using your nose as an indicator. Stop baking when you can insert a tooth pick and it comes out fairly clean.
11. Let it cool for at least 1-2 hours.
12. Use a sharp knife to slice it nice and thick squares (or rectangles).
13. Chewy crunchy and fudgy chocoloate brownies are now ready to be devoured.

Enjoy Baking!!

C