#FoodMemories: Chicken sotanghon

MANILA, Philippines – Sabaw [soup], I love sabaw. I like it hot, steamy and chunky. 

As a child, my rice would swim in flavorful broth.

I remember one particular typhoon in the mid-’70s: the wind was howling and our hanging light was swinging to and fro. I was so scared, I tried to sleep under the covers hoping that when I woke up, it would be gone.

No amount of cajoling made me come out, until they gave me a bowl of chicken sotanghon. I remember my yaya saying the howling was just the huge clouds whistling, just like the way I blew the steam away from my chicken sotanghon so I can dig into my bowl.

I sipped and slurped my fears away. It just made everything better.

Here are the ingredients of that chicken sotanghon soup:

• 2 T vegetable oil
• 4 cloves garlic, finely minced
• 1 medium onion, finely sliced
• ½ chicken cut into bite-size pieces
• ½ c shrimps, heads removed and shelled
• Medium pack of sotanghon [mung bean vermicelli], 250-300 gms, soaked in water to soften
• 5-6 cups water or shrimp broth*
• ¼ c carrots, julienned
• ½ c cabbage, julienned
• Salt and pepper to taste

1. In a medium pot or deep pan, sauté garlic in oil until fragrant and light yellow. Add onions and continue to sauté until soft.

2. Add chicken pieces and stir until the pink flesh turns white. Add the shrimps.

3. Add the water or shrimp broth and let simmer over medium heat until chicken is fully cooked.

4. Add the sotanghon and let it cook in the flavorful broth. Here, you can start seasoning with salt and pepper. [Some prefer to season with patis or fish sauce.]

5. Finally, add the julienned veggies, put the cover on and turn off the heat. Let the heat in the pot cook the veggies. That way, when you serve the soup, the veggies are still vibrant in color, slightly crisp and still nutritious!

*To get the most oomph and flavor from the shrimp, make the broth this way:

• Sauté shrimp heads in about 2 T oil for about 1-2 minutes
• Add 5-6 cups of water
• Let it boil briskly for 5-10 minutes
• Strain 

– Rappler.com

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Cooking is one of Marie Pascual’s biggest expressions of love. She is a high-ranking executive in a retail company on weekdays. On weekends, she cooks up a storm for the 3 men in her life: her husband of 21 years Emi and her two college boys Jam and Miggy.

It is this same passion and curiosity that takes their family to places that are not normally included in a traveler’s itinerary.

Marie is a regular contributor to Appetite Magazine. Her food blog www.kitchenkitchiekoo.com is currently undergoing renovation so she can share more of her flavor adventures.