This weekend we cooked in: Mexican Chicken Soup, just like mom used to make. After a few passes, the following recipe was born, inspired by our Los Angeles roots, and a motley crew of leftovers . You dont have to use a sweet potato, if a yellow or red potato is what you have on hand. Same goes for the grape tomatoes especially this time of year, dont go out of your way. Try whole canned tomatoes, diced into smaller pieces, or wait until summer to make this recipe with tomatoes. Same goes for the avocado. Just experiment. The key ingredients are the chicken and chicken stock, lime, cilantro, and tortilla.
Mexican Chicken Soup
1 medium sweet potato, cubed into bite-sized pieces
2 Tbsp. butter
2 Tbsp. olive oil
1/2 sweet yellow onion, sliced thin
4 cloves garlic, chopped fine
1/4 tsp. ground cumin
salt and pepper
1 32-oz. container organic chicken broth
1/2 small roast chicken (leftovers are fine), meat shredded off the bone
1 cup grape tomatoes, sliced in half
Juice from 1/2 lime
Several stems cilantro, chopped fine (stems and leaves), plus more leaves for garnish
1 corn tortilla, cut in half, then in 1/4 strips
1/2 ripe avocado, cubed
Small piece jack cheese, shredded
My husband absolutely despises cilantro (because he's a crazy person, I suppose). So many recipes call for it, and I know sometimes you just need that green flavor in a recipe, but I am stumped on finding a halfway decent substitute. Any ideas?
What about it doesn't he like? Many people think it tastes "soapy" - I know, they're crazy. You could try flat-leaf italian parsley, but there's really no substitute for the real thing.
That's exactly what he says - it tastes like dish soap. I tried telling him to just learn to love the taste of dish soap, but to no avail.
I will try the flat leaf parsley, though, and continue to put the cilantro in my portions.
One thing that I've heard that can help people who don't care for cilantro, is to mix it with chopped fresh mint. Just a little. It tames the cilantro bite.
We made it last night... DELICIOUS! WHat a great recipe and SO easy! I modified it a little to suit the ingredients on hand: I sauteed diced chicken breast with the onions and used vegetable stock instead of chicken. That left it needing needing a little something extra so I added 1 Tbsp of sweet chili sauce which rounded things off beautifully. It was very yummy and surprisingly filling! Thank you!
FYI - apparently it's a genetic trait, the perception of cilantro as 'soapy' - some small percentage of people will always taste soap! so don't be too hard on the cilantro-haters...it's not their fault!
What is Cilantro? I'm British, is it a herb (or an erb for all you colonists)?
In NZ we call both the seed and the leafy herb Coriander. In the US they call the leafy part Cilantro and the seeds Coriander.
I used to think it tasted like soap, but then I went to Mexico and grew to love it! Maybe there is hope?
i absolutely love cilantro and can't wait to try this recipe. i just made a mexican soup that my mother in law(whom is mexican ) makes. I have to brag on that one, and i am not much of a bragger. yummy
Just a quick addition--I add oregano instead of cumin (think I'll try both next time) and a lot of fresh roasted poblano chiles (easy to get out here in Arizona). Best soup ever!
Made it tonight and it was EXCELLENT! I watered it down a bit and didn't have any troubles finding any of the ingriedients.