Bulgarian Chicken Soup

Ingredients

4-5 chicken thighs, bone-in and skins removed

A handful of chicken livers and/or hearts (optional, but oh so delicious!)

½ medium onion, diced

¼ cup green onions, chopped

1 large carrot, finely grated

½ cup of celery, chopped

1 small potato, cut into small cubes

¾ cup rice

1 small tomato, finely chopped

1-2 tbsp. fresh cilantro, chopped

2 tsp. salt (2 tsp)

Black pepper

1-2 tbsp olive oil

1 tbsp red wine vinegar

To settle the soup:

1 egg

2 tbsp. yoghurt

Directions

In a stock pot or Dutch oven, sauté the onion until translucent over medium heat. Add the gratd carrot and the celery, and sauté for 4-5 min. Add the chicken, green onions, and the potato, and pour 14 cups of water over the mixture. Season with salt (1 tsp) and some black pepper. Bring to boil, reduce heat to low, and simmer for 30 min.

After 30 minutes, transfer the chicken to a plate, de-bone it, shred or cut the meat into small pieces, and put it back into the soup.

Add the rice at this point, and simmer for 10 min. Then add the tomato, the cilantro, and 1 tsp. of salt, and simmer for another 10 min. At this point, turn off the heat. Stir in 1 tbsp. of red wine vinegar.

To settle the soup, whisk the egg and the yoghurt into a bowl (I like to do this early on and let it sit on the side to come up to room temperature while the soup cooks.). One tablespoon at a time, stir in 7-8 tbsp. of soup into this mixture to bring up its temperature (this helps bring up its temperature further, and prevents it from curdling later). Stir the watered mixture back into the soup slowly and in a tiny streak, stirring well and constantly (once again, to help prevent curdling.) This last step will give the soup the beautiful yellow color so typical of Bulgarian soups!

Serve into bowls and season with salt and pepper. I also like to season each bowl with a tablespoon of red wine vinegar, but that hasn’t proven so popular with many of my American peeps.