For today’s Tasty Recipe, Erika sent me a link to a delicious sounding soup submitted by thekitchenpixie last September. The name was enough to rope me in: “Thai Chicken Soup with Cilantro-Infused Rice“. Who could possibly resist that?

The ingredients were simple (and I happened to have them all on hand), so yesterday I whipped up a batch.

I’ll give my verdict below. Meantime, here’s how you make it.

Here’s what you need.

Mushrooms, too. Forgot to put ‘em in there.

Begin by dicing up some chicken breast. I made the pieces a little on the small side.

Next, roughly chop an onion…

And a few stalks of celery. Mince up some garlic, too, while you’re at it.

Now heat some olive oil in a large pot.

Throw in the chicken, onions, celery, and garlic…

And stir them around for a minute or two.

Next, pour in 7 cups of water.

Then bring it to a nice simmer and leave it cooking for about 20 minutes.

Now comes the secret ingredient: lime juice! Who’d a thunk it? Pour it right on in there.

Also add the cherry (or grape, in my case) tomatoes…

Next, thinly slice the mushrooms…

And throw them into the pot.

Next comes a whole buncha cilantro…

Stir it around and add 2 teaspoons of salt.

Next, add a good teaspoon of red pepper flakes.

*Note that this quantity does result in a nice, spicy (but not overpoweringly so) soup. If you’re a little frightened of the heat factor, add 1/2 teaspoon at first, then work your way up.

Stir it all together and allow this to cook for an additional ten minutes.

While that’s cooking, let’s make the rice! Pour 1 cup of rice into a saucepan…

Add 2 cups of water and a dash of salt.

Bring it to a slow boil, then reduce heat to a simmer and place on the lid. Leave for about 8 minutes.

With a couple minutes of cooking time remaining, throw in a couple of sprigs of cilantro…

…Then place the lid back on and cook for a couple more minutes.

Serve the soup in a bowl…

With the cilantro-infused rice on the side.

The idea is that you take a little rice…

And dump it into the soup.

Then, as you’re eating the soup, if you find it’s too spicy you can just dump in a little more rice to offset the heat.

Perfect!

THE VERDICT:

I was pleasantly surprised at how delicious this soup was. I loved the ingredient list, but I wondered how flavorful it could be, cooking for such a short time. But honestly, the salt content is perfect…and the lime juice is absolutely delicious! It adds just a tiny bit of tang and dimension. The tomatoes are delicious, too—though they’re awfully hot right out of the pot.

The spice factor is all there—I think I’d back up to 1 teaspoon if I were serving it to kids or company whose spice tolerance was lower. But it was perfect for me.

This really was a treat, and it couldn’t have been easier!

Thai Chicken Soup with Cilantro-Infused Rice

This is the day of the week when we select a lesser-known Tasty Kitchen recipe—one that might otherwise go unnoticed—and cook it up. My friend and fellow food lover Erika (you might know her as TK Erika) spends a lot of time looking at every recipe that comes through Tasty Kitchen’s doors and sent me a link to this particular mushroom soup recipe a couple of weeks ago. I took one look at the ingredients and knew right away I had to try it.

Here’s the bottom line: I love mushrooms. Love them with every ounce of my being.

This soup wonderful. Special thanks to aliciamosby for sharing!

Begin by chopping carrots and celery. It’s a good start for most anything.

Heat olive oil in a pot, then throw the two veggies right in. Stir them around and cook them for a few minutes.

While the carrots and celery are cooking and softening, slice up the mushrooms.

Throw the mushrooms into the pot.

Stir them around and cook them for several minutes.

After awhile, the mushrooms will reduce and the liquid will start to cook off a bit.

At that point, pour in white wine. The recipe called for Chablis, but I used Chardonnay since that’s what I had in the fridge.

Let this mixture cook down for a few minutes.

Next, add tomato juice…

And chicken broth.

Then stir and allow mixture to boil for five minutes. The liquid will reduce and the color will deepen.

And ooooh, does it ever smell good.

Can I just reiterate for a second how much I love mushrooms?

Next, pour in the cream. NOTE: I used half-and-half instead of cream, because…well…I had no cream in my fridge, because…well…I’d used it all for my Cajun Chicken Pasta Sunday evening and didn’t feel like driving to town to the grocery store.

It has to be a pretty serious reason before I’ll drive to the grocery store. Diet Dr. Pepper, for instance. Tums when I’m pregnant. Carmex when Marlboro Man’s out. Chocolate when I’m desperate. Things like that.

Stir in the cream, then bring it to a soft boil.

Next, grate up some Parmesan cheese.

Add it to the pot. Stir it to combine and cook gently for a few more minutes, adding salt as needed. At this point, the recipe calls for adding a small amount of cornstarch/water mixture (see recipe) but I decided to leave it out since, even with half-and-half, the soup at this point was plenty thick. I think you could have the cornstarch mixture ready; that way, if the soup seems overly thin, you can add it.

Oh, dear. Was I ever excited about this soup.

The Verdict: This soup was absolutely delicious. If you love mushrooms, you’ll be in Heaven–it’s absolutely chock full of them. The small amount of tomato juice gives the soup the most delicate tangy undertone, and the Parmesan injects a whole lot of flavor. I think using cream as the recipe states would be extra delicious, but honestly, it was perfectly good with half-and-half. Also note that depending on the appetites of those eating, this recipe makes 2 to 4 servings. If you’re cooking for four really hungry people, you might want to double the recipe. Leftovers are never a bad thing!

Thank you, aliciamosby, for sharing such a yummy recipe.

The Mushroom Soup by aliciamosby – Printable Recipe