Korean Chicken Soup

Today I decided to try something a bit new for me: Korean Chicken Soup.

6 servings, generous 1 cup each

Active Time: 20 minutes
Total Time: 35 minutes

Ingredients

• 8 cups reduced-sodium chicken broth
• 2 tablespoons finely chopped garlic
• 2 tablespoons finely grated fresh ginger
• 1/2 cup uncooked white rice
• 1 tablespoon reduced-sodium soy sauce
• 1 teaspoon toasted sesame oil
• 1-2 teaspoons hot chile paste or hot chile sauce
• 1 cup shredded cooked chicken (see How To)
• 2 scallions, finely chopped
• 1 tablespoon sesame seeds, toasted (see Tip)

Preparation

1. Combine broth, garlic and ginger in a Dutch oven; bring to a boil over high heat. Add rice, reduce the heat to medium-low and simmer until the rice is tender, 12 to 15 minutes. Stir in soy sauce and sesame oil; add chile paste (or sauce) to taste. Add chicken and heat through. Garnish with scallions and sesame seeds.

Tips & Notes

• How To Poach Chicken Breasts: If you don’t have leftover chicken but you want to make a recipe that calls for cooked chicken, the easiest way to cook it is to poach it. Place boneless, skinless chicken breasts in a medium skillet or saucepan. Add lightly salted water (or chicken broth) to cover and bring to a boil. Cover, reduce heat to low and simmer gently until the chicken is cooked through and no longer pink in the middle, 10 to 15 minutes. (1 pound raw chicken = about 2 1/2 cups chopped or shredded cooked chicken)
• Tip: To toast sesame seeds, place in a small dry skillet and cook over medium-low heat, stirring constantly, until fragrant and lightly browned, 2 to 4 minutes.

Nutrition

Per serving: 149 calories; 2 g fat ( 0 g sat , 1 g mono ); 20 mg cholesterol; 18 g carbohydrates; 0 g added sugars; 13 g protein; 1 g fiber; 857 mg sodium; 392 mg potassium.
Nutrition Bonus: Folate (16% daily value)
Carbohydrate Servings: 1
Exchanges: 1 starch, 1 1/2 lean meat

 I have never tried cooking -- or eating -- anything labeled "Korean" before, so I had no real idea what to expect it to taste like. Being that husband and I are both fairly picky eaters, I worried we might not like it. I wasn't sure I'd like the ginger in the soup, but the rest of the ingredients sounded good to me for the most part.

I had to buy some sesame oil and chili sauce. This was the first time for me buying either one, so I wasn't really sure what to look for. Selection was limited, anyway.  I found a few brands of sesame oil, but only one specified toasted sesame oil, as stated in the recipe, and that one's ingredient list showed that it was diluted with canola oil, which didn't sound appealing to me.  If I'm going to buy sesame oil, I want just sesame oil, unless there's something I don't know. Anyway, the other two kinds listed only "pure sesame oil" as their ingredient, and despite their not saying "toasted", I bought one of those, hoping it wouldn't make a big difference.

Chili sauce (I did not see any chili paste) was a puzzler for me, as the varieties I found had ingredient lists quite different from each other; I especially noticed a big difference between the ones on the Asian food aisle and the ones shelved on a different aisle with "American" stuff like ketchup.  I ended up choosing one from the Asian food aisle with an ingredient list that sounded to me more like what I was probably looking for (for one thing, the first ingredient was not "corn syrups").  I used the smaller amount called for in the recipe -- 1 teaspoon -- which was plenty for me, and informed husband that he could add more to his if he wished.

I did not have leftover chicken to use; I bought an approximately 3/4 pound package for this instead.  I went ahead & cooked it all, thinking we'd use the rest for something else later, but after measuring out the 1 cup called for, and looking at the big pot of broth I had cooking,  1 cup seemed a bit skimpy, so I decided to use the whole amount.

I also used brown rice, rather than white, which took longer to cook.  I threw in some of my dehydrated chopped onions directly into the soup, rather than chopping scallions for garnish. I also used dried ginger from the spice cabinet and pre-minced garlic from a jar rather than fresh.

Despite my hesitation about the ginger, I thought the soup was very good!  It did turn out that I probably could have been fine with just the 1 cup of chicken that was called for originally, but the whole 0.75lbs was not overwhelming, and was probably more satisfying.