Arabic Hamud (Chicken Soup With Lemon)

                                                                          Hamud

                                                         (Chicken Soup with Lemon)

---

                         

                                        An Egyptian favorite, hamud has a versatile nature. Although generally served as a sauce for rice, it often appears twice in the same meal, first as a soup, and then again as the sauce. It is basically a chicken soup with celery, strongly flavored with lemon and garlic, but other green vegetables find their place in it when they are at hand.

Carcass and giblets of 1 chicken

Ingredients:

3-4 stalks celery with leaves, sliced

2 leeks, sliced (optional)

2-3 cloves garlic, slivered

Salt and black pepper

Juice of 1-2 lemons

2-3 zucchini, sliced (optional)

3/4 cup rice, boiled (measure uncooked)

Methods of preparation:

-Collect a chicken carcass, giblets, and bones to make a rich stock.

-The giblets must be very fresh, and the bones and carcass those of a chicken prepared the same day, otherwise any meat on them will be hard and dry, and the marrow in the bones very stale.

-Crack the bones slightly to release more flavor.

-There are two ways of preparing this soup.

-The stock can be made beforehand and strained through a fine sieve, the vegetables then being cooked in the clear broth. However, I usually cook all the ingredients together in the following manner.

-Put the carcass, bones, and giblets in a large pan. Add the celery and, if you like, sliced leeks. (The basic recipe is made with celery only.)

-Add the slivered garlic and cover with about 9 cups water.

-Bring to the boil and skim the scum off the surface. Season with salt and pepper, and squeeze the juice of 1 lemon into the pan.

-Simmer gently for about 1 hour.

-Remove the pan from the heat and discard all the bones, leaving only pieces of chicken in the broth.

-Add the zucchini, if using them, and cook for 15 minutes longer.

-Adjust seasoning, adding more lemon juice if necessary.

-The soup should have a distinctly lemony tang. It is this and the taste of garlic which give it an Oriental flavor

-Add cooked rice just before serving so as not to give it time to become sodden and mushy.

Serves/Guest 6 person

MAKE IT AND ENJOY...........................Write down comments pls pls pls