Saturday 25 January 2014

Chicken tortilla soup

Now. I have never made chicken tortilla soup before but I woke up wanting some yesterday and couldn't stop thinking about it, so before I did the grocery shopping this morning I went forth to the magical interwebs and the first recipe I found was this one from Ree Drummond.  It looked exactly what I was after but being in the UK I had to improvise with some of the ingredients, so this is my version of her recipe exactly as I did it; just tweak, I reckon!

3 small or 2 big chicken breasts
Half a red onion, chopped, plus a few spring onions, chopped (left over from making fajitas the other night)
2 small green bell peppers, chopped
2 cartons of chopped tomatoes with peppers and chili
2 400g cans of black beans (from Caribbean section in ASDA); one drained, one not
1large can of unsweetened sweet corn
1litre of chicken stock
About 1/3 jar of  hot salsa (I just got Aldi's own) - maybe two heaped tablespoons worth
2-3 cloves of garlic, crushed
1 big tsp paprika
1 big tsp cumin
Small handful basmati rice (about 60g)

To finish/serve:
Bunch of coriander, chopped
Grated cheese
Avocado
Soured cream
Tortilla, grilled and cut into strips...whatever you like really (I had tortilla and avocado)

You literally just put it all in a saucepan except for the rice, bring it up to boil and then let it bubble til the chicken is cooked. At that point take the breasts out and shred them with forks, and add them back to the pot.  Stick your rice in then and leave it to cook, covered, til the rice is done.  Add your coriander in, give it a stir and serve. I reckon you could easily do this in the slow cooker (I will try that next time).