Spicy curry chicken soup with coconut milk

Ingredients for 4 servings:

• 1 chicken soup)
• 2 stalk(s) leeks
• 1 large carrot(s)
• 4 large onions
• 3 bay leaves
• 3 cloves
• 4 juniper berries
• 20 peppercorns
• 60 g butter
• 40 g flour
• 2 tbsp curry powder, heaped
• 100 ml sweet cream
• 2 cans of coconut milk
• 2 cloves garlic
• 5 tsp sambal oelek
• 100 ml pineapple juice
• 1 tsp brown sugar

Instructions

Working time approx. 1 hour; Total time approx. 1 hour

the way I love her…

Wash and trim 1 leek and the carrot, and cut into fairly small pieces. Peel and halve 3 onions. Wash the chicken. Bring the chicken to a boil in enough cold salted water to just cover the chicken (approx. 2.5-3 L). Skim off any foam that may have formed. In the meantime, fry the onion halves in a non-stick pan without oil (cut-side down) until they just begin to brown. Add the leek and carrot with the toasted onion halves, bay leaves, cloves, juniper berries, and peppercorns. Simmer with the lid slightly open for 50-60 minutes. Stir occasionally, turning the chicken over. Meanwhile, wash and trim the second leek, halve it, and cut it into fine strips. Carefully remove the chicken at the end of the cooking time and then strain the stock. To retain more flavor, press the vegetables through a sieve. Remove the chicken from the bones and chop into small pieces. In a large pot, sauté the butter with the flour and curry powder (sautéing the curry powder is important so it doesn’t taste bland and dusty). Gradually add the chicken stock, stirring well with a whisk. Add the cream, the second leek, the chicken, both cans of coconut milk, pineapple juice, sugar, a quartered onion, and sambal oelek. Also, press in the two garlic cloves. Simmer for another 30 minutes, fish out the quartered onion, and season to taste. Season to taste with salt and sambal oelek if desired. You can add more garlic, but I find that in this soup, more garlic overpowers the delicate flavor of the other ingredients. Of course, that’s a matter of taste. If the soup isn’t spicy enough, I add about 2-3 tablespoons of instant chicken stock in a pinch until the flavor is “well-rounded.” Instead of pineapple juice and sugar, you can add 1/2 can of well-drained pineapple pieces to the soup.