"HOMEMADE CHICKEN SOPAS (Homemade Chicken Soup)"

Yes it is easy to get canned chicken soup from the store, and nowadays, we can buy the "low sodium" variety, which is a convenient and pleasant option. But even so, I still prefer to cook my own Chicken Sopas ('Chicken Soup'), nothing fancy, but just a simple homemade version. This way I can control the salt in my soup, and so I can have my soup with a lot of chicken chunks - just the way I like my sopas!

Also, I like preparing my own chicken stock as base of my sopas so I can skim the fat off the soup. You can skim fat from any kind of stock that you make, to make it clearer and healthier.

[CHICHAY TIP: How to skim fat off a stock: Fat generally forms in large globules on the top of the surface of your stock. Take a large spoon and push all the fat globules to one side, and skim the fat, and place in another container for disposal later. Then, go around the rim of the pot, and get any extra fat that's sticking along the edge. If you see little droplets of fat left on the surface, take a paper towel, and set it gently on top of the stock, and it will get rid of the rest of the fat.]

I had only half an hour to prepare lunch today, and so I thought of making chicken soup. It was done right in time for lunch, and my husband was so happy and satisfied with his hearty "Homemade Chicken Sopas"! You can make extra soup and freeze it without the noodles. Simply reheat the soup, add noodles to it and serve it.

[CHICHAY TIP: If you intend to freeze extra soup for later, boil the chicken and veggies, then set aside the portion you wish to save, and add noodles only to the portion of the soup that you will be serving that day. Avoid adding noodles to the soup that you will not serve immediately. The noodles will absorb most of the soup if you store it for later.]

-CHICHAY

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"HOMEMADE CHICKEN SOPAS (Homemade Chicken Soup)"

What You Need:

• 1 cup of chicken meat, cut into small cubes
• 4 pieces of chicken pieces with bones (legs and/or thighs) without skin
• 6-8 cups of water, depending on the size of your chicken pieces
• 1 medium-sized onion, chopped
• 4 stalks of celery., chopped
• 2 medium-sized carrots
• 1 tbsp chopped cilantro or parsley leaves
• 1 tsp ground black pepper
• 1 tsp salt
• 1 cup chopped iceberg lettuce
• 1/2 cup of uncooked pasta of your choice (if using spaghetti noodles, break it into shorter pieces before cooking)

How To:

-In a large pot, boil the chicken pieces with bones in water over medium/high heat for about 10 minutes, or until the chicken pieces are tender. Skim the fat of the stock.

-Add in the rest of the ingredients (except for the cilantro and lettuce), and cook this for another 7 minutes.

-At this point, reserve some of the stock and vegetables that you intend to save for later, if you do not intend to serve all the soup now. Reserve some of the uncooked pasta for the reserved soup as well.

-Add in the uncooked pasta, and add a little bit of water if needed. Remember the pasta will absorb half of the soup once it is cooked.

-Stir and cook for another 3-5 minutes, or until the pasta is softened.

-Then, taste the soup and adjust the seasoning if necessary.

-Add the iceberg lettuce and cilantro, stir, turn off the heat and serve.