Chicken and Vegetable Lemongrass Soup
It’s been a while. I know. The last six months have been hectic with plans and then a move to the beautiful state of Colorado…where every single thing in life is new. You’d think there is comfort in visiting a place like Target but only that bullseye logo is familiar. Go inside and it feels completely foreign. Wandering and wondering “where the hell are the eye drops?”. The simplest of tasks are new. Every single one. Every minute. Every day. For weeks. It’s frustrating, tiring and exciting. And then, after a while you start to get your groove and go back to errands feeling normal, mundane…until…you hit the grocery store H Mart and there’s that newness, confusion and excitement again. Labels I can’t read, fruits and vegetables that I’ve read about but never found at my local stores, and endless recipe ideas running through my mind as I’m meandering about. On a recent visit, I started easy and picked up some lemongrass and fresh udon noodles. Wasn’t sure what I was going to do but knew I’d figure something out (which also basically describes my life the last two months). So here’s what I came up with…Chicken and Vegetable Lemongrass Soup. It has familiarity with chicken and carrots but a bit of uniqueness and excitement (for me anyway) with lemongrass and udon noodles. Paired with a playlist of “new” tunes.
Chicken and Vegetable Lemongrass Soup
2 tablespoons canola oil
2 small boneless, skinless chicken breasts, butterflied
Salt and pepper
1 small onion, diced
1 medium carrot, diced
1 stalk celery, diced
2 stalks lemongrass, trimmed, halved lengthwise and smashed with back of chef’s knife
1 tablespoon ginger, minced
2 teaspoons brown sugar
5 cups chicken broth
15 ounces fresh udon noodles
2 cups savoy cabbage, sliced
1 lime, juiced
1 tablespoon soy sauce
1 jalapeno, seeded and diced (or feel free to omit to keep it mild)
3 green onions, trimmed and sliced
½ cup cilantro, chopped
½ cup Thai basil leaves, julienned (regular basil works too)
- Heat the canola oil in a 5- to 6-quart Dutch oven over medium-high heat until it’s shimmering.
- Season the chicken with salt and pepper, and cook without disturbing until it’s browned and releases easily from the bottom of the pot, about 2 minutes.
- Flip and cook until the second side is browned, 1 to 2 minutes more.
- Transfer the chicken to a cutting board.
- Add the onion, carrots and celery to the pot. Sprinkle with salt and reduce the heat to medium. Stir until the vegetables soften, a few minutes.
- Add the lemongrass, ginger and brown sugar. Cook for a minute until you smell their fragrance.
- Add the chicken broth and scrape up any browned bits from the bottom of the pot. Bring the broth to a boil and then reduce to a simmer.
- While the broth is coming to a boil, shred or dice the chicken.
- Remove lemongrass and discard.
- Heat the noodles. Some bags you can do directly in the microwave for a minute or two. If not, then bring a separate pot of water to a boil and cook the noodles until barely tender, about 3 minutes. Either way, you’ll want them to be separated from each other a little bit before adding to the soup.
- Add the chicken back to the pot.
- Add the cabbage and noodles.
- Add the lime, soy sauce, jalapeno (if using), green onions, cilantro and Thai basil.
- Ladle into bowls and slurp it up.