This is not among the most glamorous dishes out there. But what it lacks in panache, the chicken soup compensates in flavour. I think that a soup—any soup—is like a hug from the inside; indeed, what better way to combat this reoccurring winter weather than with a comforting bowl of soup?

There must be close to infinity recipes for the chicken soup out there. But the margin of error for this dish is so large that you can deviate from any recipe by as much as 25% and still get very decent results. Try to do that with pastry. Ha!

What I normally do is either get a whole chicken or, if there are no free range chickens to be found, some bony chicken pieces like wings and thighs, about a kilo or so, add a couple of carrots, some onions, celery root, leek, a good sprinkling of salt, peppercorns, a few bay leaves, add about a litre of water, and bring the whole lot to a simmer.

After about an hour of simmering (or 20 min in the pressure cooker), you will get the most wonderful soup. Back home, we traditionally strain the soup, add sliced carrot that was cooking with the soup, some pasta, and boil until the pasta is ready. But as I said, I am a rebel. I also add some mung bean sprouts, a bit of broccoli, and some spring onions.

The meat is served as the main course with some boiled vegetables.