Chicken and corn chowder
This recipe is my 7 year old’s favourite soup recipe, and I hope you will love it too. It combines potatoes, corn and chicken to make a wonderfully hearty soup that is full of flavour. It is also really quick and easy to make as well very cost-effective. Trust me, you will want to make this one again and again.
Ingredients
1 chicken breast
1 red onion, diced
3 cloves of garlic, crushed
2 teaspoons of ground cumin
1 litre of chicken stock
2 large potatoes
400g can of creamed corn
400g can of corn kernels
Handful of grated cheese (optional)
1 tablespoon olive oil
1 tablespoon butter
Method
Bring some water to the boil in a saucepan, and add the chicken breast. Turn the heat down to a simmer and leave the chicken for approximately 20 minutes. This will give you poached chicken, which is juicy and delicious. Although we are using this chicken for the chowder today, it makes fabulous sandwiches with some mayonnaise, lettuce, tomato and cheese. It can also be used for many other recipes.
Once you’ve got your chicken on, slice your onion and crush the garlic. In a large saucepan or stockpot add the oil and butter on medium heat. Add the onion, garlic and cumin. Cook, stirring, for about 3 to 4 minutes or until is smells delicious and the onion has changed colour. Then add the stock, and turn up the heat slightly. As you wait for the stock to boil, peel and dice the potatoes – remember this is soup, so you will be eating with a spoon. This means you want them small enough to be able to fit on the spoon along with some of the other ingredients. Once the stock is boiling, add the potatoes and cook for about 7 minutes. Then add the creamed corn. Stir well, and leave to cook for another 2 minutes or so.
The chicken should be done now – I just cut into the thickest part and if it’s still pink I put it back in the water for a few more minutes. Shred (or thinly slice) the chicken breast into small, bite-sized pieces. Add this to the chowder, and stir well.
If you are using cheese, turn the heat down to low and add it now. It can thicken up the chowder a little bit, but my family don’t seem to notice whether I add it or not, so in the interests of lower fat I often leave it out. Once the cheese has been added turn off the heat, and stir it through. The soup needs to be seasoned with salt and lots of pepper.
To Serve
You can serve it with some chopped parsley or chives if you have them in the garden, or just on its own. Because it has potatoes in it, you probably don’t need any accompaniment with it, but feel free to have some bread or crackers with it if you wish.
I’ve been cooking this recipe for at least 15 years, and it never fails. Ingredient quantities don’t need to be exact, you don’t need to focus on it too much, and perhaps best of all it takes about 20 minutes to whip up a batch big enough to feed 4 adults. It also re-heats for lunch the next day if you have any leftover. I said ‘if’ didn’t I?
