Malaysian-style Chicken Soup

INGREDIENTS

For the soup:

1/2 chicken, bone-in

2 small carrots

2 medium-sized potatoes

1 small ripe tomato

1 “sup bonjot” spice sachet

Salt to taste

For the saute:

3 – 4 shallots

2 cloves garlic

15 gms mix of local (Malaysian) celery, stalks and leaves and spring onions

2 tbsp Canola oil

DIRECTIONS

Clean and wash chicken then cut into medium sized pieces. Peel the carrots and cut them into chunks.

Peel the potatoes and quarter them. Quarter the tomato.

In a pot, put the chicken, 500ml water, and the soup spice sachet and salt and bring to the boil over medium heat. Lower the heat once it has started to boil and let it simmer for about 10 minutes. Add the potatoes, carrots and tomatoes and let simmer until they are soft, about 15 – 20 minutes. Check to make sure they don’t overcook.

While waiting, peel garlic and shallots and slice them thinly lengthwise. Wash the celery and spring onions, remove roots and cut them in 2.5 cm lengths.

Remove the soup from the burner when its cooked. Pour the oil into a saucepan and heat over medium heat. Add the sliced onions and garlic and fry until they turn brown. Add the celery and spring onions (its going to spatter!) and mix well to cover it in the oil. Turn off the heat and pour all this into the soup pot.

Serve when desired. Great as a dish with plain boiled rice or on its own as a starter.