Gourd Soup with Chicken for a Rainy Day

A rainy day and I am looking for a warm and comforting clear soup...So making my ridge gourd (luffa) soup with chicken. Ridge gourd is another beautiful vegetable belonging to the cucumber family. It's rich in fiber and other nutritional values such as vitamin C, zinc, iron, riboflavin, magnesium and even insulin like peptide and alkaloids to control sugar levels.

I love the taste of this vegetable as it is and this recipe celebrates this humble vegetable that you can find in any Asian markets. If you can't find ridge gourd don't fret it, you can use any luffa type of gourd too, will work excellently.

Ingredients

• 1 ridge gourd - remove skin, cut into half lengthwise,  remove the core, then slice into small half circles
• 1 carrot - cut into lengthwise and slice into 2 to 3 mm pieces 
• 3 cloves of chopped garlic
• 1 thumb of ginger (Julien) 
• 3 shallots sliced thin in rounds
• 2 to 3 cups of chicken broth
• Some coriander leaves chopped fine
• clean the coriander root and slice it thin
• Some chicken fillet ( or you can use prawns or squids)
• 2 to 3 tablespoon canola oil
• 1 teaspoon of white pepper

Direction

• Pour oil in pan and heat
• Add the sliced shallots and fry, remove once  golden and set aside
• In the same oil, add garlic, ginger and coriander root and cook till translucent
• Add the chicken and cook for 30 second to 1 minute
• Add the chicken broth and let it come to a simmer
• Add salt and pepper to taste
• Lastly add the vegetables (carrot and the gourd) and cook for just few minutes (just till the gourd is cooked)
• Take the soup of the heat and add the coriander leaves
• Sprinkle with fried shallots before serving

Have it as it is or along some white rice. You will forget that it is raining.

Happy cooking :) !!!!