Easy Recipe: Chicken Macaroni Soup

I bought macaroni to cook it with an instant cheese sauce mix I wanted to try. However, the dish was an epic failure. Baby EX didn’t like it, I didn’t like it. I had to throw everything away. Stuck with a packet of uncooked macaronis, I had to think of other recipes to use them up. Chicken macaroni soup was the only dish I knew off hand.

I was tentative to try out new recipes, especially macaronis. Baby EX has been pickier with food these days and not a big fan of pasta. Thus, I am glad she gobbled up this dish so heartily!

Prep and Cook Time (Serves 2)

Prep Time: 15 minutes

Cook Time: 2 hours

Ingredients

Ingredients

• 2 chicken thigh bones*
• 2 chicken thigh (skin removed)
• 1 stalk of celery (sliced thinly)
• 1 carrot (peeled and diced)
• 1 garlic clove (bruised)
• 1 litre water
• 4 tablespoons of macaroni
• 2-4 stalks of leafy vegetables, such as cai xin or xiao bai cai (baby bok choy)

*I usually buy boneless chicken thigh from the market stall, and they will give me the bone in a separate packet.

Preparation

• Remove skin of chicken thighs
• Slice the celery thinly
• Peel and dice the carrot 
• Bruise the garlic clove 

Cooking

• Blanch chicken bone and drumsticks in a pot of boiling water. Rinse, drain, and set aside.
• Prepare the Chicken Stock:
  • In a pot, add the blanched chicken bones, celery, carrot, garlic, and water. Bring to boil, then reduce heat and simmer for 1 hour. You may season with salt for taste.
  • Add in the blanched chicken meat and simmer the pot for another 30 minutes.
  • Sieve the chicken stock and shred the chicken.
• Chicken Stock:
  • For best results, keep the chicken stock warm in thermal pot for a few hours before serving. In this case, to avoid over-cooking, you may want to take out the chicken, carrots and celery and set aside.
  • If there’s unused chicken stock, you can store them in the fridge. Portion out the chicken stock into the volume you will use for future recipes. Keep them in separate containers so you can thaw the right amount each time. You can keep the stock in the fridge for a week and in the freezer for two months. Do not refreeze after thawing. While thawing, you can scrap off the fats that had floated to the top during the freezing process.
• Cook macaroni in salted, boiling water until the desired softness. Drain them.
• Blanched the leafy vegetables in boiling water for about 30 seconds, depending on the type of vegetables.
• Put all the ingredients together in a bowl — macaroni, leafy vegetables, chicken, carrots and celery.
• Pour hot chicken stock into the bowl of ingredients and serve immediately.

Recipe inspired by Noobcook