Shurba - Syrian Chichen Soup with Rice

I made Shurba for dinner on Thursday night and again Sunday night. It was the perfect dinner for this cold weather that LA has been experiencing. (We recently were in New York and Chicago and know what REAL cold actually is, but even though it could be A LOT colder, LA still has been cold for LA).

Jimmy Kimmel made me laugh with his bit about LA's overreaction to the cold.

On Thursday I locked my keys in my car and waited in extremely windy weather for my dad to come and rescue me (Thank you so much, dad!) and was so beyond grateful that  by coincidence Shurba was cooking on the stove, waiting for me to come home. I had no idea when I had put up the soup earlier that day how much I would need that soup when I arrived home still shivering from being stuck in the freezing wind for 20ish minutes.

I took pictures of the soup on Thursday and they came out looking disgusting. I could not post those pictures on this blog!! Saturday night I got some sort of bug and was sick until Sunday afternoon. So on Sunday I figured that Shurba once again would be the perfect dinner. Mike offered to make regular chicken soup, but I decided to make Shurba instead so that this time I could try again and take some pictures that might actually look somewhat decent. Okay, they're not masterpieces. But for pictures quickly shot on my smartphone, I think they'll do.

Shurba - Chicken Soup with Rice

On Thursday, I used brown rice. It was delicious with brown rice, just took longer to cook. The second time I made it, on Sunday, I followed the real recipe and used white rice. I also used a much bigger pot and made a bigger recipe the second time because I found that there wasn't enough on Thursday night. Although that was probably due to the fact that when I came home the brown rice still wasn't cooked so I raised the heat (because I was freezing and in desperate need of soup FAST) which probably caused a lot of the water to boil out. Anyway, it is flu season and I am reading articles that say that this is going to be an especially wicked flu season - so keep this recipe around. It will come in handy. Trust me, this is just what the doctor ordered.

Oh, and when I fed it to Katie I used my mother's trick of adding frozen peas to it. The peas cool off the soup and are also my daughter's absolutely favorite vegetable and add more nutrition to the soup. It was a great idea and Katie loved it!

Shurba - Syrian Rice Chicken Soup

1)1 package of bones/necks/or wings (I used wings)

2)2 chicken thighs

3)1 onion

4)1 tablespoon salt

5)1 teaspoon white pepper

6) 3/4 glass of rice

Put the chicken a pot with 5 glasses of water. Skim when it comes to a boil. Add the onion whole, salt, and pepper. Cook on low for approximately 1 hour (or until chicken is cooked). Add the rice and stir. Bring back to a boil and then lower the flame, cover, and cook until thickened (about 20 minutes if you use white rice, 40 minutes if you use brown). Taste and add salt or pepper as needed. 

If you have leftovers you may find that the rice has absorbed a lot of water and it is more rice than soup. Just add more water, heat, and add salt if needed. Or just eat it the next day as a rice dish.