Chicken Corn Soup

It's a cold, drizzly winter day in Pakistan. Lining the streets are vendors selling Chicken Corn Soup. These vendors can be seen stirring giant steel pots with large ladles. Surrounding the pot are stacks of clean soup bowls, like the ones you get at your favorite Chinese restaurant, and stainless steel spoons. As my fiance tells it, twenty years ago, you could get a steaming bowl of Chicken Corn Soup for 1 rupee (about 30 U.S. cents). You will see groups of people standing around these stands, chatting, and eating their soup. After you have licked your bowl clean, you can return the bowl and spoon to the vendor to be washed and reused. Who wouldn't enjoy a bowl of peppery chicken soup to warm your heart and soul?

In the summer, when fresh corn is plentiful, I roast and freeze it to use in this wintertime soup. I also usually double this recipe because it makes only about 16-20 ounces of soup and that is just not enough!

Chicken Corn Soup

t = teaspoons; T = Tablespoons

1 chicken breast or 3 chicken tenders

2 cups water

½ t black pepper

¼ cup corn (frozen or fresh off the cob)

1 t Shan vegetable curry

1 cube chicken stock (Maggi brand)

3 T corn starch, 2 cups water

2 T vinegar

Chopped green onion and/or crispy fried onion pieces for garnish

Boil chicken in water (takes about 15 mins). Save water. Shred chicken. To water, add pepper and vegetable curry. Add chicken and corn, cook on low about 5-7 mins. Mix corn starch and water. Pour corn starch mixture into pot, bring to a boil, stirring constantly. Cook 5-7 mins. Add chicken stock and vinegar. Turn off heat, cover for 4-5 minutes. Serves 2.

I like to top it with chopped green onion for a little color and another layer of flavor. Faisal likes those crispy fried onion pieces - like Americans put on their green bean casseroles at holiday time.