(Chicken) and/or (Matzo Ball) Soup

I've been away awhile and am back on here with something that's been keeping me full and is surprisingly both easy to make and (very surprisingly once I ran the numbers) healthy. Unless you're watching your sodium.

Meat: 1/2 lb cooked, cubed chicken breast

Soup Base: (This is what I use, you can change proportions or add or subtract based on your own taste.)

• Water (~2-3 cups)
• 1/4 tsp Thyme
• 1/4 tsp onion powder
• 1/2 tsp garlic powder
• 1/4 tsp or dash white ground pepper
• 1 tsp chicken bullion
• 1 sliced carrot
• 1 rib sliced celery

Matzo Balls:

• 1/3 cup matzo meal
• 1 jumbo egg
• 3/8 tsp salt

(1) I make the meat ahead of time, just boiling 1-2 lbs for about a half hour in water, draining, cooling, and then cubing. You can tear it, that's fine, it's just much slower. I got tired of tearing.

(2) To make the matzo balls, combine the three ingredients along with a dash of water ("dash" totally depends on your altitude and matzo meal). Mix thoroughly. It should NOT be hard to mix in the end, and it should not be soupy. If it's too firm, then add a bit more water. Allow to rest for 5-10 minutes -- this is necessary for the large matzo grains to hydrate. After this time, the mixture will be firmer. If it's hard, you didn't add enough water -- you can add a bit more, mix, let sit for a minute, and then you're good.

(3) Meanwhile, set your water with other stuff to boil. When it boils, form the matzo meal mixture into individual balls. They WILL expand. I form mine maybe about 2 cm (~3/4 inch) across. Drop them into the boiling water as you form them.

(4) When the matzo balls float, they are NOT done (unlike gnocci). You need to continue to cook them for at least 30 minutes. Most recipes will say it's good after 20 -- I've found that the cores are still very firm after 20 minutes. If you want soft balls all the way through, 30-40 minutes. They're technically fine to eat after 10-15. You should also add the chicken after you've added the balls. It's already cooked, but no point in not letting it soak up a bit of the flavor from the other things.

As listed above, this is enough for 1 person, or you can divide it in two. The break-down is:

Just chicken soup:

• Calories: 322
• Fat: 3 gm
• Carbs: 16 g
• Protein: 54 gm
• Sodium: 1012 mg (hmmm)
• Macros (f/c/p): 9/21/70

Just matzo ball soup:

• Calories: 323
• Fat: 6 gm
• Carbs: 52 g
• Protein: 14 gm
• Sodium: 1827 mg (yikes!)
• Macros (f/c/p): 17/66/17

Just chicken soup:

• Calories: 573
• Fat: 9 gm
• Carbs: 52 g
• Protein: 66 gm
• Sodium: 1975 mg (yikes!)
• Macros (f/c/p): 14/38/48

Yeah, lot of sodium. Of course, if you don't drink the broth, you can subtract about 750 mg from what I listed due to the chicken bullion. But, I like the broth.

 

If you tried it, how'd it come out?