Chicken & Rice Soup with Ginger & Toasted Sesame

This recipe is a republish from 2016, originally inspired by a lunch at a little Korean shop, and long due for an update. If you hadn’t tried this one before, now’s the time! It’s bolder and tastier than ever.

Located in an otherwise uninviting strip mall, “A Cup of Peace” is one of the few places in Boulder serving Korean food. While I have no idea what they put in their recipe for chicken soup, one bowl was enough to inspire me to make my own. An extremely simple soup, the broth is robust with umami, in part because it is doused with soy sauce and sesame oil (which is like liquid gold in the kitchen, isn’t it?).

In a time where we all need a little added comfort in our lives, chicken soup seems like a sort of staple. A healing, cozy staple. Perhaps because I haven’t eaten much of it, classic chicken noodle soup has never been my thing. But the flavors here are very much my thing. (In case you forgot already, toasted sesame oil is liquid gold status in my cupboard).

Chicken & Rice Soup with Ginger & Toasted Sesame

Published March 14, 2020 by Caitlin Sherwood

Serves: 6   |    Active Time: 45 minutes

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Ingredients:

1 tablespoon coconut oil

4 cloves garlic, minced

1 inch ginger, minced or finely grated

1 pound boneless, skinless chicken breasts

8 cups chicken broth

1/4 cup soy sauce

2 tablespoon rice vinegar

1 tablespoon chili garlic paste (Sambal Oelek)

1 teaspoon fish sauce (optional)

1/2 cup dry white rice

1 zucchini

1 summer squash

3 stalks green onion, green and white parts sliced (roots removed)

Drizzle of toasted sesame oil

Salt to taste (Note: depending on your broth, you may not need any salt)

1/4 cup sesame seeds

Directions:

1. In a large soup pot, melt coconut oil over medium heat. Add minced garlic and ginger, and sauté a few minutes, until golden.
2. Pour broth, soy sauce, rice vinegar, chili garlic sauce, and (optionally) fish sauce to the pot, and stir.
3. Bring soup to a simmer, and add chicken breast. Continue to simmer until chicken is cooked through, about 10 minutes. (If using Instant Pot, see note below)
4. Using tongs or a slotted spoon, remove chicken from the broth. Use two forks to shred the chicken. Then, add it back to the soup.
5. Slice zucchini and summer squash into half-moons. Add zucchini, squash and the dried white rice to the soup, and return to a simmer. Cook, uncovered, until the vegetables and rice are tender, about 15 minutes.
6. While soup is cooking, toast sesame seeds: place in a skillet over low heat. Shake the pan every minute or two to stir the seeds. Watch closely to avoid burning, and remove seeds from heat once lightly golden. Set aside.
7. Remove soup from heat. Stir, and optionally season to taste with salt (depending on your broth, you may not need any salt!). Stir in half of the green onions, and drizzle with toasted sesame oil.
8. Ladle into bowls, and garnish with additional green onions and sesame seeds. Serve.

Note: If using an Insant Pot, saute ginger and garlic in bottom of IP using Sauté setting. Add broth, soy sauce, vinegar, chii garlic sauce, fish sauce, chicken, zucchini, summer squash, and dried rice. Turn IP to Manual and set to High Pressure for 7 minutes with valve closed. Allow to naturally release for 5 minutes, then open the valve.

Instant Pot Saffron Rice with Currants and Pine Nuts

“Yellow rice,” as I called it then, was my dinner request. Just yellow rice! The stand-in name was just about right, at least in this instance, because the rice I so craved was a mix my mom would make from a little foil packet purchased at the store. I’m not sure what exactly was in that mix, though I have a hunch: yellow coloring, natural flavors, and salt. It felt like I could eat that rice for days without getting tired of it.

This version of yellow rice is not that yellow rice. It’s made with Saffron—real saffron— and studded with pine nuts and currants. It’s beautiful, and tastes beautiful too. I could eat it for days without getting tired of it. At first bite, I was immediately transported back to Mom’s yellow rice. It’s a bowl of nostalgia, but also global flavors. It’s vibrant, and homey. And, it’s made in your Instant Pot!

(It seems like as a kid, I often identified foods by their color: get the recipe for grown-up Pink Sauce here).

For a video of this recipe, click here!

Instant Pot Saffron Rice with Currants and Pine Nuts

Published May 21, 2019 by Caitlin Sherwood

Serves: 6   |    Active Time: 30 minutes

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Ingredients:

2 cups white rice (such as basmati)

2-1/2 cups water

5 tablespoons butter, divided

1/2 yellow onion, diced small

4 pinches saffron

1 teaspoon salt 

1/3 cup currants

1/3 cup toasted pine nuts

1/3 cup minced parsley, plus more for garnish

Directions:

1. Turn Instant Pot to sauté setting and heat 1 tablespoon of butter. Add diced onion, and sauté, stirring occasionally, until translucent.
2. In a mortar and pestle, grind the saffron so that it is almost a powder—a few larger pieces is OK.
3. Add rice, water, remaining 4 tablespoons of butter, saffron, and salt to pot. Stir.
4. Secure lid on Instant Pot, and set to “Rice” setting, with the vent in the closed position. Timer should set to 12 minutes.
5. When the timer goes off, release the pressure. Add currants, pine nuts, and parsley to the pot. Use a fork or spatula stir everything together, fluffing the rice as you go.
6. Serve hot, sprinkled with additional parsley for garnish.

Instant Pot Moroccan Stew with Chicken, Quinoa, Chickpeas & Sweet Potato

An unopened bottle of orange blossom water had been occupying precious real estate in our fridge for months as I debated the best thing to do with it. Finally I opened the bottle, just to smell. One whiff is all it took, and my thoughts were drifting away on a cloud of delicate blooms — soft and white, immensely fragrant. From that cloud, I landed in a darkly lit room, sitting at a large round table surrounded by smiling faces. My tenth birthday party.

We perch on round, gilded pillows at a low table. Silky fabrics hang from the ceiling, lining the walls and giving the room a sense of mystery. Someone has given me a warm, floral-scented cloth for cleaning my hands. A waiter is sprinkling us ceremoniously with orange blossom water, and the droplets land on my shoulders like the sweetest rain that ever rained. Talk about feeling like Queen for the day.

There are candles artfully lighting the space, but the most notable ones are balancing on a women’s body. A belly dancer. She gracefully juggles fire from her head to her elbows and back again, never missing a beat. We eat couscous, chicken with almonds, and b’stella pastry (a dish my dad would later take to making at home).

When it is time for tea, it is time for the greatest show of all. The waiter stacks drinking flutes in a pyramid. He makes a show of pouring the mint concoction from an ornate tea pot, starting with the top glass, and pouring until it pools over, filling the next two. The cascade continues, until each glass is full. (In my mind, the memory is almost a dream-state. I can’t quite figure out the physics of these glasses. How is it that they only spill in two directions? Did they have little spouts? Did he actually pour into glasses individually, and it is my memory that falters?)

We each take a glass and sip. It is, to this day, glorified as the best cup of mint tea I’ve ever had.

To say the least, I’ve been on a Moroccan food kick since I stole a breath of that orange blossom water in the fridge. I bought The Food of Morocco (affiliate link) and searched for something reminiscent of that day. I bought harissa paste and slivered almonds and actually started to use the orange blossom water.

The flavors of Moroccan food are so different from what you find in other cuisines. Flowers take on a large role. Both roses and orange blossoms. Herbs are used fresh. Citrus is a star of the show. Lamb, goat, cumin, paprika; Roses, pomegranate, dried fruits.

But, this stew is not traditional. It was never supposed to be. Rather, it’s approachable. It’s a one-pot wonder that has been Instant Pot-ized, and everyday dinner-ized. It doesn’t ask you to buy a bottle of orange blossom water, which you would surely have to get at a specialty store. It also calls for quinoa in place of couscous (Couscous is a hand rolled pasta, so not GF, despite it’s millet-y looking appearance). The recipe calls for ingredients you know, but combines them with Moroccan flare in mind. Cumin — lots of cumin. Paprika. Turmeric. And cinnamon, a small amount, something we rarely add to savory dishes here in the US.

For the curious: The restaurant I had my tenth birthday at, Boulder’s Mataam Fez, has since closed. There is a Mataam Fez in Denver that provides a similar (but IMO, not quite as magical) experience. Plan to make an evening of it.

Instant Pot Moroccan Stew with Chicken, Quinoa, Chickpeas & Sweet Potato

Published March 5, 2019 by Caitlin Sherwood

Serves: 6   |    Active Time: 45 minutes

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Ingredients:

1 teaspoon coconut oil

1/2 onion, diced

2 cloves garlic, minced

1 teaspoon ginger, minced

2 stalks celery, diced

1 sweet potato, diced

2 large carrots, diced

1/2 pound boneless skinless chicken breast or thighs, cubed

1 16-ounce can chickpeas, strained

1 16-ounce can diced tomatoes

2 tablespoons tomato paste

1/2 cup uncooked quinoa

3 cups chicken broth

1/3 cup currants

1 teaspoon paprika

1 teaspoon turmeric

1 teaspoon cumin

Pinch of ground cinnamon

1/4 teaspoon salt

1/2 teaspoon black pepper

For serving: minced parsley or cilantro

Directions:

1. In the bottom of an Instant Pot, heat coconut oil using the Sauté setting. When oil glistens, add onion, garlic, ginger and celery and sauté until onion is transparent.
2. Add the remaining ingredients, and stir to combine.
3. Secure lid on Instant Pot and press the “Manual” button. Set to “high pressure” (labeled “more” on some models) and set timer for 1 minute with vent in the sealed position.
4. When the timer goes off, turn off the Instant Pot and allow it to set for 10 minutes with out releasing the steam. This will ensure the quinoa is cooked through.
5. After 10 minutes, release any remaining pressure. Stir, and ladle into serving bowls. Garnish with fresh parsley or cilantro.