You Cook – I Eat Part 2: Supersoup

Supersoup is a nickname that I translated based on my friend’s Szilvi’s nickname for this soup (she dubbed it “miracle soup” but supersoup just sounds so much better in English.) Surprisingly enough, I actually learnt this from my sister. You may ask why that is so surprising, but trust me, you would have no further questions after seeing her “world famous” mashed potatoes. I mean, I love my sister, but mashies from a blender (yes, she actually puts the boiled potatoes in a food processor =/) without milk or nutmeg, or even salt for that matter is something that even the least picky person (my father) can only stare at with disbelief.

I have no idea where she got this recipe from, but I do know that I first saw her make it around the time when she started dating her last boyfriend (who is her husband of ten years or so now ;)) – but having seen some cookery in his family, I highly doubt she learnt it from them.

I’d love to say that it was me that perfected this recipe, but it’s not true. I do believe that this soup was pretty damn unbeatable by the time it first got onto my plate, so I really didn’t have to change anything to make it as delicious as it is. The other interesting fact about it that even avid soup haters can eat truck tons of it. If it so happens that I make it at home, Yuri will usually have 2-3 (or sometimes 4) bowls worth of it – and usually stops only because there’s no more left.

I really like the idea that there’s no tarragon or double cream involved in making this a ragout-like soup. A very similar taste is acquired via the lemon and the sour cream. Supersoup is the base pillar of all simplicity, there’s no roux involved, there’s no complicated tricks, and there’s also no high calorie impact ingredients. Without further ado, here are the ingredients for 2 people:

• 1 chicken breast cut into bite-sized pieces
• 250 g mushrooms
• 100 g rice
• 300 ml sour cream
• 2 slices of lemon
• Thyme (I prefer fresh but dried thyme also does the job perfectly fine)
• Salt / pepper
• Water
• About 2-3 tbsp oil (olive oil is not a good choice for this.)

First, throw the chicken in a pan, add salt to it and sautee it till golden brown. Take it out of the pan and put it into a cooking pot. Meanwhile, put the mushrooms into the same pan and sautee them until done (it’s important that all the juices come out of the mushrooms before they’re being put in the actual soup, otherwise they become too mushy.) Once the mushrooms are done, add them to the chicken and place the pot onto the stove. On high temperature, stir them well together and add the rice. Right before the rice would start sticking to the pot, add the water, some extra salt, the thyme, and the two slices of lemon.

The cooking time of super soup is rather short, since the chicken and the mushrooms are already done, so basically, the soup only needs to simmer on medium temperature until the rice gets done. Once the rice is soft, add the sour cream and stir well. I usually let the soup simmer for a few more minutes before I serve it so that the sour cream becomes nice and consistent within the soup (I dislike chunks of cream in my food.) Scoop the soup into a bowl, grind some pepper on top, and you’re ready to go.

Et voila :)