Chicken Sopas (Chicken Noodle Soup)

Every time I think of comfort food, chicken sopas always comes to mind. What's more comforting than eating sopas for lunch or dinner? Or even merienda. It is so delicious and makes us feel better that is why this is the popular meal whenever we are sick. I remember cooking my first sopas when I was in 6th grade as part of my Home Economics subject. Back then, I knew how good the dish is.  And how easy it is to make.

In the Philippines, sopas is popular during cold rainy days. It is also the meal that is usually served during wake or funeral. I wonder why they always serve sopas and crackers on 'lamay'? Anyone?

Nowadays, whenever I have leftover roasted whole chicken, I would make it into sopas. That way it will be an entirely different dish and I won't get tired of eating the whole chicken. I would just shred the meat, add whatever vegetables I have in the fridge, add whatever pasta is in the pantry, a piece of chicken cubes or a can of chicken broth. That's it! Chicken sopas in under 30 minutes.

Sophie loves this soup and would always request for it. Sometimes she would eat two bowls of sopas in one seating. And would ask for another serving a few hours later. That's how much she loves it. Who wouldn't?

Here is the recipe for this simple meal.

Ingredients


1          cup             roasted chicken, shredded
1/2       lb                elbow macaroni, or spaghetti cut into small
                                pieces
2          pcs              carrots, cut into cubes
1          cup             green beans, cut into small pieces
1          pc                small onion, chopped
2          cloves         garlic, minced
2          tbsp             fish sauce
1          tsp               ground pepper
2          tbsp            vegetable oil
5          cups            water
1          pc                chicken cube
1/2      cup              2% milk

Procedure

1.  Sauté garlic and onion in vegetable oil.

2.  Add the chicken, carrots and green beans. Cook for 5 minutes.

3.  Add the pasta, water, fish sauce, ground pepper and chicken cubes

4. Let boil and cook for 10 minutes.

5.  Add the 2% milk.

5. Serve while hot.

Slow-cooked "Rotisserie" Chicken

I bought one whole chicken a few weeks ago. It sat on the freezer until yesterday. I couldn't decide how to cook it. I don't wanna cut it into pieces, I'm not good at doing that. And then I thought, might as well cook the whole chicken. I love rotisserie chicken that we can buy in the store. Its like "lechon manok" back home. I especially like the lechon manok from 'Andok's'.  It is so yummy and so tender, the meat almost falling out of the bone.

Rotisserie is a way of cooking where chicken or other meat is skewered and cooked slowly while being rotated over a fire or oven. And since I can't do that at home, I will just use a slow cooker and then broil in the oven to brown the skin. I hope it will turn out good, not as delicious as Andok's or the rotisserie chicken we can buy from the store, but hopefully good enough to eat.  Lol..

The procedure takes hours. If you wanna cook it today, you have to thaw the whole chicken the night before. Most recipes I checked uses alumininum foil rolled into a ball as "beddings" on the bottom of the pot. But I think using vegetables instead will make it more delicious. You can use any vegetable you have in your fridge.

Here is the recipe for my slow cooked rotisserie chicken.

Ingredients

"Bedding" for the bottom of the pot

3           pcs             medium potatoes, peeled and quartered
3           pcs             carrots, peeled and cut in 3pcs
1           pc               onion, roughly chopped
1           pc               small cabbage, roughly chopped
3           pcs             bay leaf
1           tsp              anise seeds


Rub mixture

2          tsp               salt
2          tsp               garlic powder
1          tsp               cayenne pepper
1          tsp               ground black pepper

2          tbsp            butter
1          pc                lemon, sliced

Procedure

1.  Mix all the rub mixture

2.  Wash the chicken, dry with paper towel. Rub with butter and then lemon.  Place the lemon and butter inside the cavity of the chicken.

3.  Rub the chicken with rub mixture. Tuck in the wings. Tie the legs.

4. Place the "bedding" mixture on the bottom of the slow cooker.

5. Place the chicken on top of the "bedding" mixture.  This will prevent the chicken from sitting on its juices while its cooking.

6.  Cook on high for 4-5 hours. Maybe 8 hours on low.

7. Once cooked, rub more with butter and broil in oven for 10 minutes at 450°F to brown the skin.

8. Serve with rice or mashed potatoes.  Enjoy!!

The chicken was good, the skin is a little spicy because I probably put too much cayenne( I sprinkled more aside from the rub mixture). It was a wrong move.  Next time I will stick to just the rub mixture.  But the meat was tender and juicy. It was falling off the bone.  Sophie loved it. Not bad for my first "rotisserie" chicken..