Chicken, Turmeric, Ginger and Coconut Soup

The Chief Taster has been laid up with a dreadful cold which is no surprise since he travels a lot in his current job and airports are just carriers of germs. (I call him “Geoffrey” but since he does not watch the Bare-Foot Contessa he has no idea what I am talking about.  I call myself the flip-flop Contessa though..).   So I went into “mother-hen mode” and made him a healthy and healing soup.  I thought that I would put together ingredients that would help his sinuses and make him feel better.  I chose chicken because of its famed abilities to help a cold.  Turmeric because of it’s powerful anti-inflammatory properties, garlic for its antiviral effects, ginger to help the swelling of the sinuses and coconut milk because it contains fibre and lauric acid, which has been found to exhibit antibacterial, antifungal and antiviral properties too.

Although I could not taste this (I am a vegetarian) he declared this tasty despite his taste buds being numbed by his runny nose.  The next day he was a bit better and could taste the flavours.  He enjoyed it and will be eating it until I deem him better!  I used chicken breasts because he is very fussy, but you could use legs or other parts of the chicken *shudders*.  I used raw chicken but you could use cooked shredded chicken to speed up the soup time.  I now need to work on a vegetarian version of this just in case his cold has spread!

INGREDIENTS

2 chicken breasts (or other parts), cut into strips or chunks

4 cups chicken stock

1 tin coconut milk

1 onion, peeled and chopped

3 cloves garlic, peeled and chopped

1 tspn ground turmeric

2 inch fresh ginger, peeled and grated

1 carrot, peeled and chopped

2 tblspns coconut oil

1/2 tspn salt

1/2 tspn pepper

METHOD

• Heat the coconut oil in a large saucepan on  a medium heat.
• Add the garlic and onion and saute for 3 minutes until soft.
• Add the ginger, chicken and carrot and cook for about 10 minutes until the chicken is cooked.
• Add the turmeric and saute for 1 minutes.
• Add the chicken stock and coconut milk, bring to the boil and then simmer for 30-40 minutes.
• Season with the salt and pepper.
• Eat, slurp and enjoy!

Serves 2-4

Nutrition: Per Bowl -322 Calories; 20g Fat; 29g Protein; 7g Carbohydrate; 1g Dietary Fiber; 6g Net Carb