Chicken & Oats Soup

                                                   Cup of delight... Sip it hot

               A hot and delicious Chicken soup had always been my weakness. When my mom used to prepare her special chicken soup for us, fighting with my bro and sis, for a greater share of it was almost always inevitable. Mom used to cook her chicken soup in a pressure cooker with bony chicken pieces and removed the bones after cooking. Added pepper and salt while serving garnished with strands of egg whites. It was always a winner and ended up with me and my siblings fighting to lick the serving bowl and mom commenting on investing in a larger pressure cooker.

              For a lazy brat like me, cooking chicken in a pressure cooker, then removing the bones just seemed sort of painful. Also pressure cooking the bones (so that the marrow comes into soup)of oestrogen fed chicken is not a good idea unless you want to include half a dozen of life style diseases in your buddy list. Mom always prepared her chicken soup with organically fed chickens ( from local farms) which in turn is far from affordable nowadays especially when you are living abroad.

                                                       ..the comfort food..

             Every time we had chicken soup from our favourite restaurant, I had noticed that it had small chunks of chicken breast in it. Without doubt, they never cooked chicken with bones like my mom used to do and consequently took no pains to remove the bones either. So I inferred they added flavour enhancers and probably MSG to make it all the more yummy (which is what comes to my mind whenever I have tasty food from outside, though I don't consider myself a pessimist ;)

             So I was in search of a more easy and healthy chicken soup which ended at Zainab's soup at Arabic Bites and was more than thankful after I made it, in a matter of minutes. Slurp!Slurp! It just bowled me over. A perfect 'Chicken soup for the soul'.Visit her gorgeous blog for more finger licking Arab delights.
Here is the soup I made..

Chicken & Oats Soup Recipe:

Things you need:

1 boneless, skinless chicken breast (finely chopped)
black pepper powder - to taste
1/4 tsp  Cumin powder(jeera powder) or to taste
1/2 tbsp olive oil
1/3 cup red or yellow lentil(quick cooking)
5 tbsp quick cooking oats
4 cups water
Fresh parsley or coriander leaves (to garnish)

Method:

1. Heat oil in a sauce pan and add the chicken and saute until lightly browned and almost cooked. Add salt, pepper and cumin powder.
2. Now add lentil, oats and water and bring to boil. After that, simmer the heat and cook  for about 20 to 25 minutes.
3. When the soup starts to thicken, remove from heat,garnish with leaves and serve hot.