Yemenite Chicken Soup

I grew up with this soup, my mom makes it, my grandmother made it, her grandmother made it... Basically everyone on the Yemenite side of my family grew up eating this soup.

This soup is a far cry from a chicken broth - It is full of flavor and spice, and as any good Jewish grandmother will tell you: "have some more, it's very healthy!"

The recipe is actually in 3 parts (and good luck managing to pronounce any of them):

Hawaij- This is the basic yemenite soup powder spice mix. You can mix a large amount and then stick it in the freezer to keep it fresh. There is also a Hawaij coffee and tea spice mix - the two are NOT the same! The soup version is actually very versatile and can be used in many other dishes.

Zhug - This is a spicy pepper sauce. You make it and either store it in the fridge or even freeze it and defrost when you run out. Versions of this sauce can be found in most Arabic cuisine. The nice this about this sauce is that you can also just add a little more straight into your own soup bowl if you want it a little bit more spicy. This too is quite versatile and can be used to add some heat to many other types of food.

The soup- The flavor and the intense orange color of the soup comes from the addition of Curcuma, along with chicken, potatoes, vegtables and coriander as well as Hawaij and Zhug. Be careful, a little bit of splash from this soup and you'll have permanently orange spots..

While the healing properties of chicken soup remain debatable, I wholly believe in its magical anti-cold properties!

One of my favorite chicken soup memories is, as a teenager, arriving at my grandmothers house, absolutely starving, to the amazing smell of chicken soup in the air (that was pretty much always there). Walking into the kitchen, there on the stove was a small pot of chicken foot soup... yup chicken foot. Being a spoiled western world child my first thought was 'oh wow I really did not need to see chicken feet as they boil'. Turns out, chicken feet soup, tastes exactly like chicken soup - yummy!

Supplies

Hawaij - (this is a large amount that can be stored and used over time)

1 tbsp ground cardamom

7 tbsp ground cumin

4 tbsp ground black pepper

Zhug

1 bundle of fresh coriander

1/2 clove dried garlic

1/4 cup of dried spicy red pepper

1/4 tsp salt

2 tbsp cumin

1/2 tsp black pepper

1/2 cardamom

Soup - (this is for a small amount of soup but you can always scale it up to feed more people)

Chicken - either a whole chicken or any chicken parts, as long as there are bones and skin.

1 medium potato

1 medium onion

1 large carrot

2 stems of coriander

1 small piece of fresh ginger

1 small piece of fresh Kurkuma (or 1 spoon Kurkuma powder)

1 cube (10gr) vegtable soup powder (such as maggi)

2 tsp tomato paste

2 tsp Hawaij

1/4 - 1/2 tsp Zhug

1 spoon vegtable oil (I use sunflower seed oil)

Step 1: Hawaij

In a jar with a lid mix:

1 tbsp Cardamom, 7 tbsp Cumin and 4 tbsp black pepper.

Close Jar and shake well to mix.

We store ours in the freezer.

(This makes a large amount, you can make less by replacing tbsp with tsp)

Step 2: Zhug

Soak the dried peppers in water till they are soft (this takes about 2 hours).

Cut the thick part of the stalks off the coriander. We had 2 types but I chose to use the 'curlier' coriander, which was much more fragrant.

In a blender (magi-mix; or if you have a mortar and pestle) combine the drained peppers, coriander, garlic, salt, cumin, pepper and cardamom.

Blend until you get a green paste. My blender is pretty broken so the zhug still has larger pieces.

Depending on your pepper this paste is SPICY so be careful when handling it!!

Store in a closed (very well closed) container in the fridge. Or, take some and portion into several freezer bags that can be defrosted when you need.

Step 3: Make the Soup

Wash and cut the potato, carrot, leek and onion into large cubes or slices.

Cut the thick stems off the coriander.

My chicken pieces (leg and thigh) were still a little on the feathery side, so I had to clean and remove the excess fat before washing the chicken with water.

Place the chicken in a pot of boiling water over a high flame, just for long enough that the fat starts melting and frothing at the top - no more than 1min.

Remove the chicken and pour out the water with the fat.

Lightly roast the vegetables with a spoon of vegtable oil in the pot.

Fill the pot with water till about half height, add the chicken.

Add the coriander, soup powder, Hawaij, ginger, kurkuma and tomato paste.

Cook for about 45min (until the potatoes soften).

Stir in 1/4 tsp of Zhug.

Add salt to taste.

Step 4: Soup for Dinner

Add a little bit of bread and this soup is a meal... but we all eat it a little bit differently.

My daughter has hers filtered out and with a whole lot of croutons (and we are very particular about the type).

I have mine with everything in it... and a whole lot of croutons.

My husband adds a knife tip of Zhug, skips the chicken and puts in some noodles (we didn't share the croutons).