Nici Wickes: Turmeric and Ginger Chicken Broth and Greens, Garlic, Lemon and Lentil Soup

In an unprecedented move we're going to zip through not one, but two soup recipes this week! In a world where everything is shrinking, we're giving more, 2 for 1, etc. 

  

Turmeric and Ginger Chicken Broth    

I swear this is a steaming pot of goodness, capable of chasing away any winter ails.   

Serves 2-4   

 

Ingredients 

• 1 chicken frame, either from your butcher or supermarket, or left over from a roast chicken dinner   
• 1 large onion, diced   
• ½ leek, white and green bits chopped  
• 2 carrots, diced     
• Thumb-sized piece of ginger, plus extra strips to garnish   
• 40g fresh turmeric, grated (can use 1 heaped tablespoon dried turmeric or 50mls turmeric juice)   
• 1-2 teaspoons sea salt   
• ½-1 teaspoon black pepper  
• Finely diced chives or spring onions to garnish    

  

Method 

1. In a large pot, cover the chicken frame with water and bring to a rapid simmer. Use a slotted spoon to skim off any scum that rises to the surface. Add remaining ingredients and simmer, covered, for 30 minutes.  
2. Remove chicken frame and strip the meat off the bones. Add this back into the soup.   
3. Taste for seasoning. Turmeric likes plenty of salt to balance its earthy flavour, so add salt and pepper (see note) as needed.   
4. Serve in large bowls with sticks of ginger and chives or spring onions to garnish.   

  

Nici’s note: The black pepper is important in this recipe as it helps the body absorb the curcumin which is the active anti-inflammatory ingredient in turmeric.   

  

  

Greens, Garlic, Lemon and Lentil Soup 

This deceptively simple soup is deeply nourishing.   

Serves 4   

Photo / Todd Eyre

Ingredients 

• ¼ cup olive oil   
• 1 large onion   
• 3 cloves garlic, crushed   
• 4-5 big handfuls of chopped chard, spinach and/or silver beet   
• 400g brown lentils, drained and rinsed    
• 750mls–1 L water  
• 1 teaspoon sea salt & ¼ teaspoon pepper   
• Juice from 1-2 lemons    
• 50g frozen feta cheese  

   

Method 

1. Gently fry onions and garlic in oil in a large pot on low heat.  
2. Increase the temperature to medium and add chopped greens and cook until they wilt and even char in places.  
3. Add the lentils. Pour over water, add salt and pepper and bring to a simmer.  
4. Squeeze in lemon juice and taste for seasoning.  
5. To serve, use a microplane or fine grater to grate frozen feta on top.   

  

Nici’s note: Charring the greens gives this soup a wonderful smoky flavour. 

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Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:07):
You're listening to the Saturday Morning with Jack Team podcast
from News Talks.

Speaker 2 (00:11):
That'd be it is time to catch up with our
cook NICKI works who's here with them very hearty and
healthy sounding recipes for us this morning, Nikki.

Speaker 1 (00:19):
Yes, good morning. I know. Well, easy soups, I thought,
and I thought, well, we could probably cram two of them.
And boy is it the day for it today? It
is so cold today.

Speaker 2 (00:32):
It's been very chilly.

Speaker 1 (00:33):
We had to get a swimming What did you do it? No,
not yet, but I will after you. I promise, I promise.

Speaker 2 (00:38):
It's not going to be easy in the ocean.

Speaker 1 (00:40):
It's okay in the ocean. Absolutely in the ocean. You're
amazing in and out, an amazing. I know, I don't
want to do it now, but I will. After I
come out, I'll be so happy.

Speaker 2 (00:50):
And so you have the soup ready to go, all right, so.

Speaker 1 (00:54):
That we can get through both of them. I have
got a turmeric and ginger chicken broth. So both of
these soups this week are not the ones that you
would put a bleak. You put it through a blender
like you would a pumpkin soup or whatever. They're quite brothy.
And fantastic. I use a chicken frame for this. I
buy those boss Stocks. It's not an ad, but I
buy those boss stocks ones from the supermarket, which are

(01:14):
two frames actually in a bag, but from your butcher.
All left over from a roast chicken is a great idea.
So in a pot, cover the chicken frame or frames
with water and bring that to a rapid simmer. And
then sometimes, especially if it's not a pre roasted chickens,
if you're doing that from raw, you'll get a little
bit of scum comes on the top side. There's no

(01:35):
other way to put it. Take that off of the
slotted spoon. I don't know why I do it. I
just must have learned it at cooking school or something.
Makes a nice clear broth, and then you just throw
all the rest of your ingredients in, which is a
large onion that you have diced, half a leak, use
the white and the green bits chopped up, two carrots,
dice those up nice and small, a decent thumb sized
piece of ginger, and you're going to use a few

(01:57):
extra strips to garnish it later too. Forty grams of
fresh turmeric, and that's sort of in the shops at
the moment you want to grate that up and all
you can use one here each tablespoon of dried turmeric
not quite as good, but there you go, or fifty
meals of turmeric juice. You can sometimes buy the juice
and supermarkets to one to two teaspoons of salt, because

(02:17):
turmeric has a very earthy flavor and you really want
to make sure that you offset that with a bit
of salt and a good half to one teaspoon of
black pepper jack. That really helps our turmeric do. It's
an anti inflammatory trick. And then just cook all that
up for about thirty to forty five minutes, take the
frame out, strip all the meat off it, put the
meat back in and taste it for seasoning. And it's

(02:40):
just absolutely beautiful. And I sue that enrolls with a
little bit more dinger, perhaps some spring onions or chibes
or coriander to garnish it. So that's number one. Number
two greens, garlic, lemon, and lentil. My beautiful niece Harriet
showed me how to cook this. I thought doesn't sound great, love,
but it was amazing. So what you do is you

(03:00):
gently fry in a good quarter of a cup of
olive oil, one large onion that you've chopped up, three
cloves of garlic, and then four to five big handfuls
of chopped charred go in there. Once those garlic and
onions have softened up, you can use charred spinach or
silver beet and just char them a little bit, which
gives it a lovely smoky flavor. Add a four hundred

(03:20):
gram can of drained brown lentils, pour over about a
liter of water, don't even need to use stock. Add
a good amount of salt and pepper. So I use
one good teaspoon of sea salt, but quart of a
teaspoon of pepper, and then squeeze in lemon juice. This
is the kicker juice, from one to two nice big
juicy lemons. And I've usually got some frozen fetter hanging around,

(03:43):
so when I serve it, I microplane or finally grate
some of that frozen fetter on top. It's the most
beautiful soup and it's ready in no time. It's really fantastic.
It's really just as long as the whole thing comes
to a simmer. Yeah, it's beautiful, absolutely gorgeous. So two
great soups for us to have delicious soups.

Speaker 2 (04:00):
And the key is, of course, a nice bit of
crusty breads. Well, I would usually say, butter well.

Speaker 1 (04:14):
I mean, yeah, you need to use it on toast.
I mean, that's the thing. Save it for the toast people.
But yeah, and look, you're saving on your power bell
because I tell you what, soup warms you up from
the inside every single time. So these nice brothy ones,
they don't take long to cook, so you're not using
much electricity having them on the stove for hours and
hours and hours like a pe and ham soup or whatever.
They're quick, they're beautiful, and they're super nourishing and great. Yeah.

Speaker 2 (04:37):
So when you say you have a swim every day,
you go out your port, white cuttle, So you go
out into the surf, you put your head under.

Speaker 1 (04:44):
Oh yeah, oh yeah, God, put your head into it.
I go under three waves at least.

Speaker 2 (04:48):
Right, Okay, that's the routine.

Speaker 1 (04:49):
Three waves, And that's the routine. And look, I'm a
year round swimmer. I don't say every day because sometimes
it's just a bit prohibitive down here. But and all
I think when I come, when I go in, I
just think I'm stupid and I'm not enjoying myself. As
soon as I come out, I feel sorry for everyone
else who's waiting for summer.

Speaker 2 (05:07):
Just yeah, well, I'd someone who say to me once
I went from the midwinter swim months and someone said
to me, was does it every day? And they said,
every day you don't swim in the ocean is another
day you don't swim the ocean before you die. And
I was like, yeah, that's what I like that.

Speaker 1 (05:20):
It really is, because you know, when the summer comes,
everyone goes on exactly. Yeah, I don't feel I enjoyment
when you're swimming. So then you got a bit of
go for one.

Speaker 2 (05:28):
Now, yeah you go do it all right, Thank you
so much. Those delicious sounding risks for Nikki's two soaps
will be up and available on the News Talks. He'd
website for more from Saturday Morning with Jack Tame.

Speaker 1 (05:40):
Listen live to news Talks he'd be from nine am Saturday,
or follow the podcast on iHeartRadio