To make it easy I generally keep stock in the freezer. Keep either chicken broth or vegetable broth.

CHICKEN STOCK RECIPE

• 1 onion, chopped
• 2 stalks celery, chopped
• 2 carrots, chopped
• Chicken bones
• 1 bay leaf
• 1 teaspoon black peppercorns
• ½ teaspoon mixed herbs
• Salt to taste
• Water

Place the whole chicken bones in a large cooker with the onion, celery, and carrots and fill it up with water. Add the bay leaf and peppercorns. Bring the mixture to a boil and then immediately reduce to a simmer. Allow the mixture to simmer for at least 45 minutes. Place a strainer over a large saucepan and strain the hot chicken mixture. 

I use this as a base for any soup I want to make. While I have given you a basic recipe, the real fun is in throwing anything and everything into the stock – garlic, beans, cabbage, mushrooms anything that you have a little quantity left over and don’t know what to do because it all adds to the flavour and the more the flavour in the stock, the better is the final soup.

To make a nice ginger noodle chicken soup, simply fry plenty of ginger, a few cloves of chopped garlic and small chopped onion. Add some chicken broth and fresh spring onions with the green stems and bring to a boil. Add some boiled noodles and you have a filling soup.

SPINACH SOUP

This is one soup I cook at least once a week. The health benefits of spinach are well documented – it is a super food loaded with calcium, folic acid, vitamin K and iron. It’s also rich in vitamin C, fiber and carotenoids. Add its lutein and bioflavanoids and spinach is a nutritional powerhouse.

• 2 medium bundles of spinach
• 1 onion chopped
• 3 cloves garlic chopped
• 1 table spoon of oil
• 1/2 cup skim milk
• Salt and pepper to taste

Clean the spinach thoroughly and boil. In a pan fry the garlic and onion. Add the spinach and onion mixture to the blender and blend well. In a large saucepan, heat the spinach puree with water till it boils. Add the milk, salt and pepper and let simmer. Serve hot with a wedge of lime.

MOONG SOUP

If you want more protein in your soup have this simple dal soup.

• 1 cup yellow moong
• 1 onion finely chopped
• 2 cloves garlic chopped
• 1 small piece of ginger finely chopped
• 1 teaspoon olive oil
• Salt and pepper to taste

Soak the moong dal for ten minutes. In a small pressure cooker, fry the onion, garlic and ginger, then add the moong with the water and then pressure cook till properly boiled. Let the moong cool down and then blend it in the blender till smooth. Place it back in the pressure cooker and boil. Garnish it finely chopped coriander leaves and serve hot.

Pic: Nenad Nerandzic