Sunday, July 29, 2007

Soup comfort


There is nothing like a nice warm bowl of soup when you are sick. I made this last weekend when I was down with the flu. It was a weird flu virus- one that left me chirpy and alert for a few mins and straight down and depressed the next.

Chicken and sweet corn soup is a classic in many chinese restaurants in Australia. Unfortunately, their take on this classic is a disaapointment.

My love for this soup came when I was barely in high school though. In fact, I learned how to make this soup first before knowing how to bake or cook a proper meal (unless u count instant noodles). A good friend of mum made this for a dinner party and I happened to be invited along. I remembered taking 2nd helpings. Mum recorded the recipe, made it once with me following her around the kitchen and that was it... I was hooked. (btw, it was a rare sight of mum cooking in the kitchen).

I love corn (I can see Ruth grinning here). Ruth- my best friend and I used to walk around Pasar Malam (Night Markets) in Singapore with me munching cup corn/ whole corn and her munching on sourish tidbits.

My best friends tasted this version and liked it as well. They are my best taste critic and never fail to be encouraging in my quest to make the near-perfect chicken and sweet corn soup. My secret? Brandy. (shhhh.. yes, i made this with brandy even though we were 14 yrs old then!)

I served the soup with garlic bread. An old all time favorite of my church mates and I. Eve-who was my surrogate mother in church taught my sisters( i.e. best friends) n I this and we never looked back since!


Chicken and Sweet Corn soup
1 chicken breast (or 200 grams of chicken tenders)
1 can of cream corn
2 cups of Chicken stock
3 cups of corn kennels (or if u are me.. half a packet of frozen corn!)
garlic
egg-lightly beaten

Marinade
1 tablespoon of light soy
season with pepper and dash of salt
1-2 tabplespoons of brandy
1 teaspoon of corn flour
sesame oil

1) Marinade bite size chicken pieces for at least an hr.
2) Heat oil in pot. Lightly fry garlic. Turn up the heat and add chicken. Cook till brown. Lower heat.
3) Add cream corn. Stir. Add stock. Bring it to boil.
4) Add corn kennels.
5) Stir. Simmer for 30 mins.
6) Switch off stove. Add beaten egg.
7) Ladle and serve.

Garlicky Bread

4 slices of multigrain bread.
3-4tablespoon of spread
1-2 generous teaspoon of mince garlic
sprinkle of Italian herbs
1teaspoon of sugar

Mix spread, garlic, herbs and sugar. Spread on bread. Toast for 3-5mins. (PS-i ran out of dried italian herbs so it was just garlic bread!)

8 comments:

Little Corner of Mine said...

Hi Daphne,
I love this soup too! I only had this 2 years back in a Chinese restaurant here, never have it while in M'sia. Thus, started to make my own. Hehe... Next time should try your way of adding a little Brandy. :)

D said...

Ooh.. I almost completely forgot about this soup till you brought it up. The Rising Sun restaurant near Cannington used to serve this as the starter soup to their set dinners. It was quite hearty and welcomed especially during the chilly winters =D

daphne said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
D said...

Yes yes! I did go there for the dimsum buffet, actually when it first started it was pretty good.. then as the crowds came.. it sort of went downhill from there. If I'm not wrong, the price increased too.

daphne said...

Hi little corner! Thanks for visiting =) It's odd, I haven't seen it in Malaysia or Singapore too. It's the main item in chines restaurants here though. hahah. Actually, I have always thought this was a "western" soup until I visited Aus!

Hey d! Rising Sun... did u used to go there for their $10 unlimited dimsum? The dim sum quality isn't fantastic but it is sure value for $. I haven't tried their set dinner though.. hmmm.. will give it a go if we do head there. =)

Sorry-i deleted the last comment because I got your name wrong little corner! oops!

d- yes! Price increased to about $12 per person. The last i remembered, the food was oily. It's good value for the guys but not for the girls unfortunately. ;p It is still popular among students though.

D said...

Oh.. I have a recommendation for a place that serves excellent Aussie bar grub. Nicholson's at Canningvale, she was recommended to me independently by three different people and so far all I've recommended to love it as well.
http://dancingblueseal.blogspot.com/2007/06/nicholsons-bar-and-grill-perth.html
The servings are HUGE!

daphne said...

haha! YES! We loved Nicholson's Tavern (I think that is what is called?) too. Their beer battered fries are excellent. My bf and I order their seafood platter to share... and we still couldn't finish it! Great value.

Another good place to go was Hogs Breath-lovely steak but expensive.

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