Chicken and Siomai Soup, for those days when you’re feeling down and needs some hot love and comfort. This recipe hits the spot!

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I am a soup person. In the house I grew up in, there’s always some kind of soup to partner up with fried fish or any dried viand even if it’s just a simple vegetable soup.  In the cold months of October to February, there’d be Miswa and Meatballs, Niluyahang Manok, Tinolang Isda, and of course, our Sinigang na Baboy.

When the monsoon comes with heavy rains and typhoon, oftentimes there will be fallen coconut trees. The guys would gather what they can from the tree. They would carefully remove the coconuts, the leaves, cut the wood, remove the coconut heart or “ubod”. And my mother would make Ubod Soup – with calamansi and small shrimps. Other times it would be Buko (young coconut meat) with sardines. These were simple fare and common enough in the province. You’d understand how comfort food begins to take root in the soul -with what we commonly eat as children.

So I was feeling a bit sick and wanted some soup to make me happy. Since we prepared a batch of Siomai two weeks ago, I figured I would make Chicken and Siomai Soup.

Chicken and Siomai Soup

Ingredients

Siomai – from an earlier recipe – check here!

Broth:
500 grams chicken (preferably the white part)
8 cups water
shrimp heads – or shrimp cubes if you have no shrimp heads.
1 small carrot, cut into quarters
1 stalk of celery chopped
1 onion cut into quarters
fish sauce and white pepper, to taste

Toppings:
Spring onions
Fried Garlic

Instructions.

1. Bring chicken to a boil along with the vegetables and shrimp heads. Let it simmer for 1.5 hours, occasionally removing the scum.
2. Take out the chicken and shred the meat roughly. Not too small but not too big.
3. Remove all of the vegetables and the shrimp heads and discard.
4. Season the remaining soup with fish sauce and white pepper.
5. Bring back to a simmer and drop the siomai dumplings. Let simmer for about 5 minutes more.
6. Prepare separate bowls. Add the shredded chicken, fill with the broth and siomai. Top with chopped spring onions and fried garlic.
Enjoy!