Avgolemono (Greek Rice and Lemon Soup)

A community recipe by Trkishdelight

Not tested or verified by Nigella.com

Introduction

I am a turkish Cypriot and whereas there are alot of great 'turkish' soups such as one Ive posted on here (Mercimek-lentil soup) I also love love love this greek soup that my greek cypriot friend taught me how to make and make this in the winter every week. Its healthy and really delicious!! It is made with rice, egg and lemon- sounds strange but its NOT eggy at all it just thickens the soup and works really well. Its a thick rice based soup thats flavoured with lemon and has shredded chicken in there so its a meal in itself and SOOOOOOO easy to make!! Serves 4-6 Enjoy!

Ingredients

Serves: 4-6

Metric Cups

2 chicken stock cubes
1 water (a kettle full of hot water)
1 chicken breast
2 lemons
1 egg
1 long grain rice

2 chicken broth cubes
1 water (a kettle full of hot water)
1 chicken breast
2 lemons
1 egg
1 long grain rice

Method

Avgolemono (Greek Rice and Lemon Soup) is a community recipe submitted by Trkishdelight and has not been tested by Nigella.com so we are not able to answer questions regarding this recipe.

You will need a large saucepan, mine is about 26cm diameter and about 18-20cm deep so use something similar.

Place the whole breast into a pan of hot water and boil gently until cooked through, about 20mins!
Take the chicken out and leave to cool, meanwhile top the water up so it comes just below the top of the pan and add about 2 cupfuls of rice and stir in the stock cubes. Simmer with the lid half covered until the rice is very soft (not al dente).
In the meantime in a small bowl whisk the egg and lemon juice and zest (if you like it really lemony like I do).
When the rice is cooked, shred the chicken (with your hands) and stir into the soup.
Now to add the egg mixture without the egg scrambling you must put a ladle full of the soup water into the egg and lemon whisking vigorously as you do so, add one more ladleful whisking vigorously then pour into the soup ,stir and then its done. The soup will be white in colour!! This soup can be kept in the fridge for up to 2 days and reheated!

You will need a large saucepan, mine is about 26cm diameter and about 18-20cm deep so use something similar.

Place the whole breast into a pan of hot water and boil gently until cooked through, about 20mins!
Take the chicken out and leave to cool, meanwhile top the water up so it comes just below the top of the pan and add about 2 cupfuls of rice and stir in the stock cubes. Simmer with the lid half covered until the rice is very soft (not al dente).
In the meantime in a small bowl whisk the egg and lemon juice and zest (if you like it really lemony like I do).
When the rice is cooked, shred the chicken (with your hands) and stir into the soup.
Now to add the egg mixture without the egg scrambling you must put a ladle full of the soup water into the egg and lemon whisking vigorously as you do so, add one more ladleful whisking vigorously then pour into the soup ,stir and then its done. The soup will be white in colour!! This soup can be kept in the fridge for up to 2 days and reheated!