Jamaican Chicken Soup

As a child, nothing filled me with more joy than coming home from school to see the giant soup pot sitting idly on the stove in preparation for dinner. My mom would often make chicken soup when we were sick, down in spirit, or just in need of something to warm us up. Now that I'm an adult, I knew that I needed to learn how to make my mom's famous chicken soup so that I too could spread the joy I felt as a kid!

Ingredients:

Chicken

3 Pieces of Chicken Breast or 4 boneless chicken thighs

(typically I'd chop up bone in skinless chicken thighs and add everything to the

pot because the bone contributes to a more stocky or brothy soup but I was

too tired and wanted to use what I had on hand so I improvised)

Vegetables

1/2 peice of yam, cubed

2 large carrots, cut

1/2 cho cho, cubed

1 potato, cubed

1 scallion, cut

3 cloves of garlic (chopped or crushed)

6 1/2 pieces of corn on the cob

1 piece of scotch bonnet pepper

Pumpkin, diced (if available)

Miscellaneous ingredients

1 cup of flour for spinners

1/2 cup of cold water

~8 cups of water for soup stock

Seasonings

1 Cock chicken noodle soup packet

1 Pumpkin soup packet

3 sprigs of thyme

5 whole pimento seeds

Salt and pepper

Preparation:

1. Bring 8 cups of water to a boil in a soup pot.

2. Wash, cut up and place chicken into the boiling water.

3. Add in the salt, black pepper, scallion, garlic, thyme and pimento seeds. Let everything boil for 10 -15 mins.

4. Mix the flour and salt with water to make a stiff dough. Separate into small pieces and mold into spinners.

5. Add the carrots, cho cho, yam, potatoes, corn and pumpkin if available and let the vegetables boil for ~10 mins

6. Add in the soup packets and scotch bonnet pepper (whole). Cover the pot and let it simmer for 30 - 45 mins. Stir occasionally and add more water if the soup becomes too thick.

7. Once done, remove the scotch bonnet pepper and serve.

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