Wintertime In our village is a time of rest People work hard during the summer months but people rest in winter. One of our lovely Bulgarian friends told us that he really enjoys the winter! He can sit by the fire with his glass of Rakia and enjoy the fruits of his labours. And what is nicer on such a cold cozy day than a bowl of Home-made traditional Bulgarian chicken soup.
The wife of the same friend runs a small bistro and she has taught me how to make this traditional recipe. Every restaurant over here serves this soup and it’s quite different than the soup I used to make in England. This is the recipe for home-made traditional Bulgarian chicken soup.
HomemadeTraditional Bulgarian Chicken Soup Recipe
it goes without saying that every good soup needs a good stock. To make homemade chicken soup you obviously need chicken! Just put a chicken carcass or chicken bones into a large pan with an onion cut in half (no need to peel) a carrot and some herbs. Cover with water. Boil and then simmer for at least four hours. A lot of recipes also recommend adding a tablespoon of home-made apple cider vinegar.
Soup Ingredients
- 1 1/2 pints home-made stock (above)
- 1 red pepper finally chopped
- 1 green pepper finally chopped
- 1 large carrot finally chopped
- 1 cup of cabbage finally chopped
- 1 large onion finally chopped
- a handful of dried herbs
- 1 or 2 tomatoes finally chopped
- you can also add a cup of celery finally chopped
- you can also add mushrooms – about 10 finally sliced
- possibly a stock cube or two
- some cooked chicken– leftover chicken is fine (about two cups). You can also use fresh chicken – two chicken breast would be fine – see below. Whether fresh or cooked the chicken needs to be chopped into small bite-size pieces.
- One large potato finally chopped(alternatively you can use one cup of white rice)
- an egg
- 2 tablespoons plain yoghurt
- fresh parsley
- juice of one lemon
- salt and black pepper to taste
- butter to sauté the vegetables
Method
- Finely chop all of the vegetables – this is the key with this soup. Wherever you eat this soup in Bulgaria, you will notice that the ingredients have been finally chopped.
- Fry the onion in some butter for about five minutes making sure it doesn’t stick to the pan
- If you are using uncooked chicken, you can add it now and fry for another 10 minutes
- Then add the other vegetables and sauté for five minutes
- Then pour in the stock
- if you are using pre-cooked chicken, add this now
add a handful of dried herbs - Now add the rice or potato
- Salt and pepper to season
- Boil and then similar soup for about half an hour.
- Check the seasoning and add stock cubes if necessary
- Once you are happy that everything is thoroughly cooked and seasoned to taste turn the soup down to simmering
- In a separate bowl, whisk together an egg and 2 tablespoons of yoghurt
- Take a spoon full of the hot soup and whisk thoroughly into this mixture
- Add another ladle full of hot soup and whisk then pour the whole lot back into the pan whisking continually so that you don’t get scrambled eggs!
- Heat everything through again
- Before serving the soup add a squeeze of lemon juice (fresh lemon!) And a sprinkling of chopped fresh parsley. All of this adds to the vitamin C content.
Notes for Home-made traditional Bulgarian chicken soup
Some recipes I looked at suggested chopped spinach instead of cabbage. If you are using spinach then don’t add this until five minutes before the end of cooking your soup.
It is the egg yolk that makes the soup yellow. This is characteristic of homemade traditional Bulgarian chicken soup.
You can freeze the soup in jars. Pour the soup into a clean jar but leave a gap at the top because it will expand in the freezer.
Some recipes also added noodles. If you want to add these then add them about five minutes at the end of cooking time before you add the egg mixture.