When my friends ask me what my favorite day of the week is, I always tell them that “grocery day” is my favorite day. As a kid, accompanying my mom to grocery shopping was one of the activities that I “less enjoyed” the most. It felt like a tedious chore for me, something I had to do just because my mom insisted. I would say I had quite good reasons to dislike it, though *wink*:
- Most of the time, my mom disagreed with buying the things I wanted to buy back then, such as chocolate and candies; those are my favorites, but my mom never understand what I truly want *sigh*
- I don’t know about your mom, but my mom can spend hours and hours wandering through grocery aisles, even hopping from one store to another, leaving me nothing to do except push the cart and follow her wherever she went.
- I’m not too fond of the wake-up-6-am-during weekend situation (good luck to kids whose mom is more competitive than my mom!) whenever my mom needs to go to a traditional or wet market, which for my mom was a super important thing to do during the weekend because, by the end of 10 am, you most likely found nothing left in the market. All the moms in the town had bought fresh produce by then. I don’t know whether I am just a lazy kid, but these are reasons why grocery shopping was not enjoyable during that time. due to these reasons
But as I grew older and started living independently, making some $$ *cha-ching*, my attitude and feelings towards grocery shifted. Being able to shop for my needs, buy “whatever I wanted,” and experiment with cooking with new products changed my perspective. Plus, studying food science in college deepened my interest in food and allowed me to grow more appreciation towards food products sold in the local market and grocery store. Now, grocery shopping does not feel like a chore to me, but it even feels like a “retail therapy” minus the actual “purchasing” part.
Well, I guess I should stop myself from writing excessively about my grocery philosophy, what I really wanted to share to you through this post is a recipe of simple and comforting chicken soup that can be made by using a very simple and basic homemade ingredients and is versatile enough to pair with rice, noodles, pasta or even potatoes. If you are a college student like me, I’m pretty sure you’ll get my point *wink*.
Ingredients
6 cloves of garlic, crushed and minced
Yellow onion (equal part with garlic), I minced half portion of the yellow onion, and the rest I leave it as a sliced cut for bigger texture
1 stalk of green onion, cut small for soup and garnish; stem part goes to the soup base, and leafy part I use it for the garnish
1 cup of fresh carrot, diced small
100 g of leftovers Shredded Chicken
1 cup of potatoes, diced or cubed
Sweet Corn
Parsley, chopped
Salt
Black Pepper and Chili Pepper
Oil for frying
250 ml Water
100 ml Chicken broth
Instructions
- Prepare all ingredients
- Heat some oil in a pot over medium heat. When the oil is hot, add the minced onions and garlic. Let them cook until the garlic turns golden and the onions are soft and translucent.
- Add the chopped green onions and the shredded chicken to the pot. Stir everything together for a couple of minutes until the shredded chicken turn light brown
- Pour in water and chicken broth, then add the diced potatoes and carrots. Season with salt, black and chili pepper. Stir to combine, then cover and let it cook until the vegetables are soft and cooked. At this point, give the soup a taste and adjust the seasoning to your preference.
- Once the vegetables are soft, add the sweet corn and chopped parsley to the pot. Let the soup simmer for about 5-6 minutes to allow the flavours to blend well.
- When the soup is ready, remove it from the heat, garnish with chopped green onions. Serve the soup warm and enjoy the comforting flavour of this hearty, chicken soup. Enjoy!
