Chicken feed

Quick, easy, satisfying. Pick three

According to statista.com there were 25.9 billion chickens in the world in 2019, and save for those tasked with crossing roads, all were expressly bred for food. Yet weirdly and very much barbarically, it’s believed that chickens were first domesticated not for food but for the purpose of cockfighting – the so-good-they-named-it-twice gallus gallus, or red junglefowl, being kept as far back as 9000BC. Rearing these feathery bipeds for meat didn’t happen until around 400BC.

What has this got to do with this recipe for Grandmother’s chicken soup? Well, frankly nothing, especially if you’d rather swap chicken for firm tofu and chicken stock for vegetable stock (top tip: to bring in that umami flavour, try a few teaspoons of miso paste). But it’s nevertheless interesting to wonder at just how far back our love affair with the humble bird goes and, if chicken is your thing, to marvel at just how simple this recipe is to knock up.

It’s all there – lean protein (chicken is nearly on par with turkey as the leanest, highest-protein meat), plenty of in-season UK veg, plus there’s even brown rice for added fibre and low-gi carbs. It all adds up to a superb post-ride meal that’s made all the better in that most soupy of ways – this is a dish that’s happy to be frozen, on standby whenever you need it.

Chicken soup is also supposed to be good for the soul, and we could all use an inner hug.