Curried Chicken & Wild Rice Soup

It's been a while since I've posted on a soup and I have been looking for a chicken and wild rice soup that wasn't super rich. I try not to make meals that require heavy cream or a lot of cream cheese--and found most chicken and rice soups to be very rich due to those ingredients. When I stumbled upon this recipe, I decided to give it a go. I have adapted this recipe to be even lighter and don't miss the heaviness at all! But, feel free to make it as 'creamy' as you wish by adding a fuller fat dairy. We enjoyed it and I even sent some home with my dad when he came to visit. They said they loved it.


The soup calls for a little curry powder and many people think that curry powder brings out the flavor of chicken. I do not find it overpowering, but you can always add a little less. We really loved the texture of this soup due to the sliced almonds--how neat is that? Crunch in a soup. And almonds are so good for you! My husband said it reminded him of our avocado curry on brown rice. This is really great comfort food. And I may also try it with vegetarian 'chicken' next time.


Tips:

• If you really in a hurry, you can buy one of those frozen mirepoix bags in the freezer section of your grocery store--one bag is a fine substitute for the chopped onion, celery & carrot required in the recipe (or so it seemed for me anyway!) 
• In the comments section of this recipe, someone said they used the food processor to chop the onions, carrots, and celery--so I may try that next time. It's a forgiving recipe so a little more of this and a little less of that won't kill the flavor.
• Also, in the comments section, someone said they put everything in the crockpot, raw chicken & I'm assuming uncooked rice (EXCEPT for the cream/milk), left it on low--I'm assuming for 4-6 hours, and added the milk/cream when everything was cooked through. That would be easy, wouldn't it?

CURRIED CHICKEN & WILD RICE SOUP

Adapted from www.allrecipes.com

Serves 6-8

• 1 Tbsp. butter (+a little olive oil, if necessary)
• 1 finely chopped onion (about 1 medium onion)
• 1/2 cup chopped celery
• 1/2 cup sliced carrots
• 1/2 pound fresh sliced mushrooms (I used 1 lb. sliced mushrooms because we LOVE them!)
• 3/4 cup all-purpose flour
• 6 cups chicken broth
• 2 cups cooked wild rice
• 1 pound boneless skinless chicken breasts, cooked and cubed
• 1/2 tsp. salt
• 1/2 tsp. curry powder
• 1/2 tsp. mustard powder
• 1/2 tsp. dried parsley
• 1/2 tsp. ground black pepper
• 1 cup slivered almonds
• 3 Tbsp. dry sherry (vermouth would work well too)
• 2 cups half-and-half (I USED 2% milk—but you could go even lighter with 1% or skim or fat-free half & half)

Melt butter in a large saucepan over medium heat. Stir in the onion, celery and carrots and saute for 5 minutes (add a little olive oil if necessary to prevent sticking). Add the mushrooms and saute for 2 more minutes. Then add the flour and stir well. 

Gradually pour in the chicken broth, stirring constantly, until all has been added. Bring just to a boil, reduce heat to low and let simmer.

Next, add the rice, chicken, salt, curry powder, mustard powder, parsley, ground black pepper, almonds and sherry. Allow to heat through, then pour in the half-and-half or milk.

Let simmer for 1 to 2 hours. (Note: Do not boil or your roux will break.)