There are two things that my grandmother Dusanka makes the best in the world: it is the chicken soup and sarma. We have made sarma in the earlier menu, and I am so happy to be writing this recipe because I will try to demystify the secret of the best chicken soup in the world for me. Baba Dusanka was born in the village called Linen valley in Sumadija, the heart of Serbia, so-called Serbian “Toscana”. It is famous for good wine, pork and fruits, especially plums. Till the age of 16 my great grandmother lived and I remember loving to do 2 things when I visit the farm: overfeed the chicken by throwing them corn (I loved the moment how they would break their relaxed and random pecking and run for their life to grab a piece of corn), and second I loved “swimming” in the huge wooden corn crib and enjoyed the smell of dry maize. Baba Dusanka and grandpa Ljubisa are both great gourmands, they love cooking and farming and they just love enjoying life to the fullest- in food, wine, and nature. Most of the things she makes comes from their farm or village farm of our extended family in Linen valley, and this is one of the secrets of the great taste of my grandmother’s kitchen.
Chicken soup (pileća supa)
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- Prep Time
- Minutes
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- Cook Time
- Minutes
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- Yield
- Ingredients (for 8 plates of soup):
- Difficulty Level easy
Ingredients
- 1 whole free range chicken (500g)
- 1 onion, peeled
- 1 carrot, peeled
- 1 parsnip, peeled (optional)
- 1 small celery root (200g), peeled (optional)
- 2 bay leaves
- ½ spoon peppercorns
- 2 garlics
- Salt, pepper to taste
- 1 teaspoon of Vegeta (optional)
- 1 handful of short soup pasta (italian vermicelli)
- Tbs chopped italian parsley
- * 1 cube of beef stock (this was the shocking discovery, but doing trial and error this makes a difference and adds to the flavour that I love in this soup)
- *Vegeta is a combined dry vegetable, stock and salt condiment commonly used as a food additive in Balkan countries, especially in former Yugoslavia. It can be found in Japan online and in selected stores. I am not a big fan of food additives so I would skip this step. If you use good chicken and fresh, good quality vegetables- you won’t need this.
Instructions
- Peel the onion and grill it till it gets brownish on all sides, for a few minutes. This will give a smoky taste to the soup.
- Place a chicken, vegetables, peppercorns, bayleaf in a large, deep pot and cover with cold water. Place on the stove and bring to a boil, skimming off the foam that forms on the surface of the pot. Reduce the fire and cover the pot halfway, and continue cooking till the meat is done (it can last from 30 min-1 hour), depending on the age of the chicken. Cooks for 30 min-1 hour depending on the age of the chicken.
- When the meat and vegetables are done, strain the soup, chop the vegetables and return to the soup, add salt, pepper and Vegeta, if using. Mix well and continue cooking for another 5 minutes.
- Add a handful of soup pasta, chopped parsley, cover the pot and let rest for 10 minutes before serving.
- Never add water in the middle of cooking the soup, it will affect the taste and disrupt the thermal processing of meat and vegetables.
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