Ajji's Chicken Soup(for the soul) - Guest Post for Friendship Chain

Remember the guest post I did for "Friendship Chain - Spread the Specialty" about a fortnight ago for Priya of Priya's Easy and Tasty?? Now its time for me to pass that friendship torch to someone else. Blogging has expanded not just my culinary horizon but also brought me closer to many like-minded folks- Radhika of Food for 7 stages of life being the first and foremost. She is one person with whom I have taken the friendship beyond blogging. Of-course there are a few others now with whom I have established such  a wonderful connection but I have known Radhika right from the time I began blogging. She has offered me plenty of tips about blogging, made me realize the full potential of social networking and such. Besides being helpful, she is an extremely amicable person with a serene attitude and I consider myself fortunate that I bumped into her and her blog.Plus she has been gracious enough to share a chicken soup recipe that I encourage you all to try.
Make sure to check out her lovely space and a borrowed recipe from her space that I posted sometime in 2009: Madurai Chicken Curry/Kudi Amti.

Radhika Takes Over:
CL is one of the few people I first got acquainted in blogosphere and took our relationship beyond commenting in each others blog and saying a Hi. When I was too shy in making friends, she came forward and spoke to me. Since then we have spoken hours over phone. Two weeks ago I received a call from her asking me to do a guest post in her blog. I agreed to it without a second thought. It is a pleasure and privilege to write a guest post for such a wonderful friend.
CL wanted me to share a Sourashtrian recipe through this guest post. Immediately I remembered my Ajji's (Grandmother's) chicken soup , a post that has been pending ever since I started this blog. Though it sounds simple, this particular soup has been dear to me. I always make it on special occasions or whenever I miss my Mom/Grandma terribly. This soup requires minimal ingredients and it is less spicy. Hence it is a tradition in our  family to feed it to the infants/toddlers. My grandmother makes this soup, mixes it with a bowl of rice, adds lots of love and feeds us.  She fed this to her 5 children and then to an army of her grand children. My Mom followed her footsteps and I will do the same. I wonder how a simple food like this can have in-numerous memories in each one of us. 

Ingredients:

• Chicken - 200 gm
• Shallots/Pearl Onion - 4
• Ginger Garlic Paste - 1 tsp
• Pepper Powder - 1 tsp / to taste
• Salt to taste
• Curry leaves - few
• Oil - 3 tsp
• Water - 2 cups

Procedure:

• In a pressure cooker, add oil. When it is hot add finely chopped shallots and saute until it turns translucent. Add curry leaves.

• Add Chicken pieces and fry for 2-3 minutes on a medium flame.

• Add ginger garlic paste and fry until the raw smell disappears around 3 minutes.

• Add salt, 1 tsp pepper powder. Bring it to boil.Close the lid and pressure cook for 2-3 whistles. (In India Amma usually waits for atleast 5 whistles)

• Remove from flame. Allow the steam to release. Open the lid, adjust salt and pepper, transfer to serving bowls and serve it hot.

Notes:
      You can mix this soup with rice and feed it to infants/kids.

South Beach Diet Adaptable:
       Use Chicken breast and you can have it in all 3 phases of SBD.

Enjoy!