Chicken & Rice Soup with Ginger & Toasted Sesame

Chicken & Rice Soup with Ginger & Toasted Sesame
Chicken & Rice Soup with Ginger & Toasted Sesame

This recipe is a republish from 2016, originally inspired by a lunch at a little Korean shop, and long due for an update. If you hadn’t tried this one before, now’s the time! It’s bolder and tastier than ever.

Located in an otherwise uninviting strip mall, “A Cup of Peace” is one of the few places in Boulder serving Korean food. While I have no idea what they put in their recipe for chicken soup, one bowl was enough to inspire me to make my own. An extremely simple soup, the broth is robust with umami, in part because it is doused with soy sauce and sesame oil (which is like liquid gold in the kitchen, isn’t it?).

In a time where we all need a little added comfort in our lives, chicken soup seems like a sort of staple. A healing, cozy staple. Perhaps because I haven’t eaten much of it, classic chicken noodle soup has never been my thing. But the flavors here are very much my thing. (In case you forgot already, toasted sesame oil is liquid gold status in my cupboard).

Chicken & Rice Soup with Ginger & Toasted Sesame
Chicken & Rice Soup with Ginger & Toasted Sesame

Chicken & Rice Soup with Ginger & Toasted Sesame

Published March 14, 2020 by
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Serves: 6   |    Active Time: 45 minutes



Ingredients:

  • 1 tablespoon coconut oil
  • 4 cloves garlic, minced
  • 1 inch ginger, minced or finely grated
  • 1 pound boneless, skinless chicken breasts
  • 8 cups chicken broth
  • 1/4 cup soy sauce
  • 2 tablespoon rice vinegar
  • 1 tablespoon chili garlic paste (Sambal Oelek)
  • 1 teaspoon fish sauce (optional)
  • 1/2 cup dry white rice
  • 1 zucchini
  • 1 summer squash
  • 3 stalks green onion, green and white parts sliced (roots removed)
  • Drizzle of toasted sesame oil
  • Salt to taste (Note: depending on your broth, you may not need any salt)
  • 1/4 cup sesame seeds

  • Directions:

    1. In a large soup pot, melt coconut oil over medium heat. Add minced garlic and ginger, and sauté a few minutes, until golden.
    2. Pour broth, soy sauce, rice vinegar, chili garlic sauce, and (optionally) fish sauce to the pot, and stir.
    3. Bring soup to a simmer, and add chicken breast. Continue to simmer until chicken is cooked through, about 10 minutes. (If using Instant Pot, see note below)
    4. Using tongs or a slotted spoon, remove chicken from the broth. Use two forks to shred the chicken. Then, add it back to the soup.
    5. Slice zucchini and summer squash into half-moons. Add zucchini, squash and the dried white rice to the soup, and return to a simmer. Cook, uncovered, until the vegetables and rice are tender, about 15 minutes.
    6. While soup is cooking, toast sesame seeds: place in a skillet over low heat. Shake the pan every minute or two to stir the seeds. Watch closely to avoid burning, and remove seeds from heat once lightly golden. Set aside.
    7. Remove soup from heat. Stir, and optionally season to taste with salt (depending on your broth, you may not need any salt!). Stir in half of the green onions, and drizzle with toasted sesame oil.
    8. Ladle into bowls, and garnish with additional green onions and sesame seeds. Serve.
    Note: If using an Insant Pot, saute ginger and garlic in bottom of IP using Sauté setting. Add broth, soy sauce, vinegar, chii garlic sauce, fish sauce, chicken, zucchini, summer squash, and dried rice. Turn IP to Manual and set to High Pressure for 7 minutes with valve closed. Allow to naturally release for 5 minutes, then open the valve.
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    Tangerine Dream Smoothie

    Tangerine Dream Smoothie

    Our local grocery store (Alfalfa’s) has a smoothie bar and every once in a while they’ll set out samples. Recently they had not one but three flavors to sample, and I debated which brightly-colored mini cup to take. I finally landed on tangerine, even though orange is not typically my favorite flavor. Immediately, I was reminded of a story about Orange Julius I post to this blog years ago. It was creamy, with citrus punch and a touch of vanilla. It was a throw-back, a reminder of orange cream soda and orange creamsicles and childhood. It was nostalgia. But, flavor-wise, even better, because it was made with tangerines at peak citrus season. So, I took that inspiration and ran with it, adding a little coin of ginger because I couldn’t help myself.

    Tangerine Dream Smoothie
    Tangerine Dream Smoothie

    Tangerine Dream Smoothie

    Published February 20, 2020 by
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    Serves: 1-2   |    Active Time: 10 minutes



    Ingredients:

  • 2 tangerines, 2 minneola tangelos, or 1 sumo citrus, peeled
  • 1/2 cup plain yogurt or vanilla yogurt
  • 1/4 cup milk of choice
  • 1 banana, peeled and roughly chopped
  • 5-6 ice cubes
  • 1 nickle-sized slice of ginger
  • Optional: 1 scoop plain, unsweetened collagen or whey protein powder
  • Optional: 2 tablespoons unsweetened desiccated coconut
  • Optional: Small drop vanilla extract

  • Directions:

    1. Place all ingredients in the blender and secure lid on blender jar. Puree until completely smooth.
    2. Pour into serving glasses and enjoy cold. 

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    Root Slaw with Lemon Vinaigrette

    Root Slaw with Lemon Vinaigrette

    It is rare to find an exciting vegetable in the grocery store in the middle of February. It’s all orange-green tomatoes, rock-hard avocados, and kale. This month, however, I was planning a crunchy root salad already when I came across pink daikon radishes. I paused for a minute, knowing that likely, not everyone that reads this blog will be able to find pink daikon radishes. But I bought them anyways, because their brink color was irresistible. Yes: you can use any sort of radish instead. Regular white daikons. Watermelon radish would be pretty. Easter egg radishes. Red cherry radishes. They will all work, and taste just about the same. I just fell in love with how bright and fresh the pink looked, and how it added little pops of pink to this salad. 

    Radishes, like many root vegetables, are a good fall back this time of year when little else is fresh or ripe. And while it’s easy to think of root vegetables as potatoes and yams, this salad proves that root veggies can also make a refreshing, bright, and light salad, too. Serve as a side with pulled pork, brisket, chili, or even a panini. 

    Root Slaw with Lemon Vinaigrette
    Root Slaw with Lemon Vinaigrette

    Root Slaw with Lemon Vinaigrette

    Published February 6, 2020 by
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    Serves: 4   |    Active Time: 20 minutes



    Ingredients:

  • 1/3 cup radish, peeled and julienned (pink daikon radish, daikon radish, watermelon radish, or red radishes)
  • 1/3 cup cucumber, julienned
  • 1 large or 2 medium carrots, peeled and julienned
  • 1 golden beet, peeled and julienned
  • 2 tablespoons minced parsley 
  • Black pepper to taste

  • For vinaigrette:
  • Juice from 1 Meyer lemon 
  • 1/4 cup extra virgin olive oil 
  • 1/2 teaspoon honey 
  • 1/4 teaspoon dijon mustard 
  • Generous pinch of salt 

  • Directions:

    1. Combine all julienned vegetables and parsley in a medium-sized salad bowl.
    2. In a jar, combine all ingredients for vinaigrette. Place lid on jar and shake to emulsify.
    3. Drizzle vinaigrette over vegetables to taste (you may not need all of the vinaigrette) and toss to coat. Season to taste with pepper.

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