Dairy Free Chicken and Black Rice Soup

Taiwan was once the safest place when talking about the COVID-19 outbreak. It still is one of the well-shielded countries against the virus, but perhaps that's the reason delaying citizens to get their vaccines. 

To be honest, I'm a little worried. It's like dealing with an invisible enemy not knowing where it'll strike or when it'll pop out. Seriously considering getting vaccinated myself, but AstraZeneca's COVID-19 vaccine is the only available option now (for me) in Taiwan. It's rather risky per my opinion getting AZ vaccine at the moment. Still debating what's the best thing to do. Meanwhile, eat healthy, sleep well, and exercise in order to build up a good immune system, that I can keep up for sure.

Dairy free chicken and black rice soup -

Ingredients (about 5 to 6 full servings)?

• 1 1/2 cups black rice or wild rice (regular measuring cup)
• 2 chicken breasts
• 4 cups peeled and cubed celery
• 2 cups peeled and cubed carrot
• 20 button mushrooms
• 1 big bundle spinach
• 1 onion
• 4 garlic cloves
• 8 cups chicken stock
• 1 cup dry white wine
• 1/2 lemon
• 2 tablespoons olive oil
• 1 tablespoon herbes de Provence
• 2 sprigs fresh thyme
• Some salt
• Some black pepper

How?

Peel and dice the onion. Peel and finely chop the garlic cloves. Peel and cube the carrot. Peel and cut the celery into smaller chunks. Clean and trim off the very bottom of the button mushrooms. Section the spinach.

Cut the chicken breasts into smaller chunks. If there's any leftover rotisserie chicken or turkey, even better.

Use a big pot, drizzle about 2 tablespoons of olive oil and turn to medium high heat. Add in onion, garlic, celery, and carrot. Also add in 1 teaspoon of salt and 1 teaspoon of black pepper. Give it a quick mix and cook for about 10 minutes. Stir these ingredients once a while.

Transfer the chicken over and cook for couple more minutes. Add 1 tablespoon of herbes de Provence. Give it a quick mix.

Pour in about 8 cups of chicken stock along with 1 cup of dry white wine and 1 1/2 cups of black rice. Bring to a boil then lower the heat to a simmer. Add in two thyme sprigs on top. Put the lid on and let it simmer for about 40 minutes, or till the rice reaches desired texture.

Pick out the thyme sprigs. Transfer spinach and button mushrooms over. Keep simmering till these two ingredients cooked through. Squeeze in some lemon juice to add a brighter note.

Scoop the soup to serving bowls and add some freshly ground black pepper on top.

It's a very versatile recipe. Take the protein for instance, you don't have to use plain chicken. In fact, if you have rotisserie chicken or turkey leftover, use it. It'll actually add more flavor to the final product.

I would love to use wild rice too instead of black rice, but I have been searching for it for weeks, nowhere to be found, not even online. That's why my soup got this dark purple hue from the black rice. However, I have no problem with dark food at all, they only speak "even more tasty" to me.

While this virus thing is still going on around the world, stay safe there.

Other hearty soup recipe:

• Not quite the regular miso soup, it's tonjiru time (豚汁)