Chicken Stock

Nowadays I tend to use a lot of vegetable stock instead of chicken or beef stock. But sometimes, a chicken stock is nice.

This chicken stock recipe is based on Kylie Kwong's chicken stock recipe and has similar ingredients and method to the Chinese Lamb Soup.

Serves 8

Times

Preparation:

15 minutes

Cooking:

2 hours

Ingredients

• About 2kg free-range whole chicken
• 1 large onion, roughly chopped
• 12 cloves garlic, crushed
• Approx 5cm ginger, sliced
• ½ bunch of shallots, roughly sliced
  (approximately 1 cup)
• ½ tsp fresh ground pepper
• 4 litres of water
• ½ tsp salt

Method

1. Place all ingredients except the salt in a stock pot or large saucepan, and bring to the boil.
2. Reduce heat to a simmer, skimming foam from the surface.
3. Turn down heat until surface of stock is barely moving and cook for 2 hours, skimming as required.
4. Add salt then strain soup into bowls for serving.

Tips

• Strain soup into containers and freeze for future meals.
• Use the chicken meat for other meals.
  I like to use the chicken and stock to make hainanese chicken rice for dinner; use the chicken stock to boil the rice and top with some chicken breast. Serve with a bowl of chicken stock and some sauces.