Here is a special little chicken soup I created for a client that needs nourishment and recovery foods for a long stint with chemotherapy, pulling in all my food as medicine notes and experience cooking for different medical conditions, I came up with this little gem that the family also enjoy.
*** Note for this recipe: it helps to have chicken broth already pre made, I make mine well in advance and freeze in portions and freeze for later use. ***
Ingredients
800g organic chicken breasts
8 fresh shiitake mushrooms, sliced finely
1 teaspoon fresh ginger grated
1 lemongrass stick
1 fresh lime, juiced
1 litre homemade chicken broth
300g organic broccoli, cut into florets
1 fresh corn husked
2 tablespoons tamari
Method
In a large pot, add hot water and the lemongrass stick, infuse for 5 minutes, add the organic chicken breasts and poach for approx 12-15 minutes, checking at 12 minutes and making sure the thick part of the breast is cooked through.
Once done, drain the chicken and lemongrass into a spider/sieve and reserve the water for use later.
Leave the chicken to cool slightly then, when it is not too hot to handle, start to shred into manageable pieces, the chicken should be very moist, that’s why overcooking is not advised you need to check at 12 minutes when poaching.
Using the same cooking pot add the chicken broth and start to gently simmer, add the fresh shitake mushrooms and ginger and cook for 3 minutes until the shiitakes are softening. Add the corn cobs, fresh lime and tamari, taste and adjust for your palate.
Simmer for a further 5 minutes. Lastly, add the shredded chicken and the raw broccoli and cook for a further 5 minutes. Then add some of the reserved poaching chicken water to get the right consistency.
Enjoy by itself or with some biodynamic brown rice.
Nutritional note about shiitake mushrooms – They are 6,000 years old and have been used in Asian countries as medicinal food for centuries. They are also sustainable, as they are forest farmed, although, you will be hard-pressed finding certified organic ones in Australia.
They are used frequently for cancer patients to boost immunity. Shiitake mushrooms contain all 3 b vitamins (b2, 5 and 6), vitamin d and manganese, and are a good source of dietary fibre.
They are very soft to handle and to retain all there phytonutrient properties make sure you don’t overcook them. We like to add them to soups and also gently fry in coconut oil for stir fries and fantastic with scrambled eggs!
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Belinda Randell
