Ayurvedic chicken soup

Nourishing, comforting and digestible

This tasty chicken recipe is extremely nutritious and highly assimilable by the body. It can fill a good part of the meals of the week and helps to regain stability, energy and vigor. Several variations in seasoning and vegetables are possible.

INSTRUCTIONS

Cooking chicken

1 In a large pot, boil a whole chicken with skin and bones over low heat. Boil in 2L of milk and 5L of water.

2 Remove the chicken after an hour of cooking and skin it: peel the chicken to remove the meat and add it to the soup.

3 In a second pot containing 2L of water, boil the skin, bones, cartilage and viscera for another 90 minutes, set aside.

Cooking spices and roots

4  Meanwhile, add the ginger, garlic, onion and coriander, fennel and cumin seeds to the chicken soup, mix well.

5 Boil over low heat for 20 minutes.

6 Add the root vegetables and spice powders: garam masala, turmeric, mustard, cinnamon, cardamom, cloves, salt and pepper, mix well.

7 Boil over low heat for 20 minutes.Cooking of the leaves and grand finale

8 Strain the broth from the leftover chicken prepared in the 2nd pot and add it to the chicken soup.

9 Add the leafy vegetables, mix well and let sit for a few minutes.

Ayurvedic profile

Beneficial for: vata and pitta

Suitable for:kapha in excessive amounts

Dominant flavor:  Mild/Sweet, 

Secondary flavor: Spicy, Dirt,Bitter

INGREDIENTS

Group 1

    •  1.50 kg of whole organic farmed chicken

    •  2 l almond milk or 1.2 l coconut milk + 0.8 l water

    •  5 l of water + 2 l of additional water for the broth

Group 2

    •  2 to 3 tbsp. coarsely chopped fresh ginger (5-10 cm)

    •  1 whole garlic clove, quartered, cut in half

    •  1 large onion roughly chopped

    •  3 tbsp freshly ground coriander seeds

    •  2 tbsp whole fennel seeds

    •  1 tbsp whole cumin seeds

Group 3

    •  3 cups root vegetables (preferably carrots, parsnips and sweet potatoes)

    •  2 tbsp garam masala powder

    •  2 tbsp turmeric powder

    •  2 tsp ground mustard

    •  ½ tsp ground cinnamon

    •  ½ tsp ground cardamom

    •  ¼ tsp ground cloves

    •  Sea salt and pepper to taste (approx. 2 teaspoons of each)

Group 4

    •  3 cups leafy green vegetables, roughly chopped (spinach, Swiss chard or a little parsley, cilantro leaves, kale)

Variation for VATA types

    • This soup in itself is great for vata
    •  Avoid nightshades among chosen vegetables: potatoes, tomatoes, eggplants, peppers

Variations for PITTA types

    • This meal suits pitta quite well
    •  Use coconut milk, more refreshing
    •  Eliminate cloves and mustard
    •  Halve the garam masala
    •  Serve with arugula salad or other bitter salad to better digest fatty substances

Variation for KAPHA types

    • This recipe should be consumed in moderation to avoid unbalancing kapha
    •  Use a leaner rice milk
    •  Add 1 tbsp. tbsp dried ginger powder
    •  Add ½ tsp. teaspoon cayenne powder
    •  Replace root vegetables with celery and fennel

NOTES

Therapeutic applications

This recipe is extremely effective in nourishing the body, the nutrients will be easy to digest and absorb: in Ayurveda, it is recommended in cases of deficient agni. In addition to the protein and fat that the soup provides, the broth from the bones is full of glycosaminoglycans (GAGs) such as glucosamine. This chicken soup is used to regain vitality, replenish the body’s reserves of vital energy, regain a good libido and an effective immune system. Those who struggle to gain weight or who have lost it due to illness will regain their healthy weight very quickly by consuming this dish on a regular basis. To benefit significantly from its benefits, you must consume the soup at a rate of 300 to 500mL per day for at least a week.

Chicken broth enema

For therapeutic purposes, the filtered broth from this recipe is even sometimes administered rectally in Ayurveda, at a rate of 250 ml per day, for seven days in a row. The absorption and effects of the recipe are maximized by this extremely effective technique. For this treatment, we reduce the quantities of garlic and ginger by half and we remove from the recipe the more spicy spices such as garam masala, cinnamon, mustard and cloves.