When I was about 24, I got bells palsy. I had recently finished my Masters thesis, moved back to Christchurch and ditched the boyfriend. It was a lot of fun to go back to Dunedin for a weekend to present a paper at a postgraduate history conference and catch up with friends. On the Friday night we had a huge night on the town and I dragged myself to the conference just a few hours of sleep later to present some thoughts on women and booze. In Central Otago on the goldfields 100 years previously. Saturday night was more sedate and on Sunday I noticed with some alarm that one side of my face didn't move when I told it to. Well well well.
Once I had a diagnosis, I had to wait a week until I was well enough to travel back to Christchurch. During that week my lovely friend Asma came round each day and looked after me. And she made me chicken soup and that was when I understood that chicken soup was divine medicine. My previous encounters with chicken soup were of the maggi packet mix variety so it was no surprise that I had no previous chicken soup love. I remember that Asma put egg in it, that it tasted great and can't remember much else.
So two days ago when my son had a scary asthma attack, I wanted to make him chicken soup. With lots of garlic and ginger. My chicken stocks until today have always been made with the bones of roast chicken but this time I shelled out for a whole raw chicken. I cut the breasts and some of the leg meat off roughly and put that meat aside for a chicken stirfry tomorrow night. I then broke up the carcass and put it in a pot with two bay leaves from my own bay tree,`some carrots, some onions and water to cover the lot. I simmered that for just over an hour and then in another pot I sauteed garlic, ginger and shiitake mushroom (which I had soaked overnight) and then added chopped savoy cabbage and the stock liquid and the shiitake mushroom soaking liquid. When that was all boiling nicely, I added udon noodles, the shredded meat which I had separated from the bones while the cabbage et al was cooking and two raw eggs. Five minutes more cooking, lots of pepper, a little salt and we all had lovely chicken soup for lunch. And again for dinner. I will do this again. It's also a nice change from always starting a chicken with a roast. Because yes I am in the three meals from each bird brigade.
We eat a lot of hummous in our house. This is my standard recipe: 2 cans (390g each) of chickpeas, thrown in the food processor with 2-3 cloves of garlic, 2 tablespoons tahini, juice of 2 lemons, some fresh parsley and/or basil, pinch of salt. Whizz round for a while and then add some olive oil (I just stream it in - I'd guess it is 1-2 tablespoons' worth) and whizz that in also. Done.
I was feeling like widening my repertoire on the dip/spread front but hadn't come across anything I fancied making or eating or that used affordable ingredients. Until our coffee group went out on our Mothers' Work Do evening last Thursday and the lovely Nell, proprietor of the best eating and drinking establishment in our town, told me what was in her bean dip. So I had a go today and I'm pleased with the results. The colour isn't incredibly appealing but the taste is worth it. This is it:
1 can chickpeas (390g)
1 can red kidney beans (390g)
juice of 1 lemon
juice of 1 lime
2-3 cloves garlic
1 tablespoon cumin seeds (I dry roasted mine and then ground them in the mortar and pestle)
2 tablespoons tahini
whizz all that together and then add a stream of olive oil (1-2 tablespoons worth) and whizz a bit more. Done.
It's better made at home
2 weeks ago
2 comments:
Sounds yummy - will try! SAndra, you need nova's red lentil dip recipe if you don't already have it. It has become a firm fave around here and sounds like it will suit you a treat. MMmmmmm...
The other day I watched a man shred the last bits of pork off a bone to put into someone's noodle soup, then he threw the bone inot the stock he had boiling over a fire...it was a big soup, maybe 20-odd gallons (ie half the size of a 44 gallon drum - just so you know how my logic is working - or not)
Anyway, all that to say I also watched him make egg. He cracked the egg into a shallow bowl and the poured two ladlesfull (ladlefulls??? ladles full??) of said stock over the egg. By the time he took it to the table, it was cooked. I thought to myself, "Even I who do not like cooking, could manage that!)
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