Chicken Noodle Soup (Kuracia Polievka)
Ingredients: few carrots, parsley root, few small onions, one small chicken, oil
Prep Time: About 30 minutes
My grandma makes, hands-down, the best ever chicken noodle soup. Part of her secret are her hand-made noodles. The other part is the recipe, which is posted here. As you will see it’s quite simple.
The Slovak version of chicken [noodle] soup (kuracia or slepačia polievka) is bit different from the American kind. First, it is always clear and “brothy”. Second, Slovaks use slightly different ingredients. While celery is an integral part of the American version (or at least the canned version I buy in the supermarket), celery is not used in the Slovak chicken soup. Instead, we use parsley (petržlen). The root that is. While in America parsley is used almost exclusively for its leaves, in Slovakia it is used predominantly as a root vegetable. For those unfamiliar with parsley, it looks like a small carrot, but is white.
Besides parsley, you will also need carrots (mrkva). My cooking started on a bit interesting note. I prepared this soup at my grandma’s. She is now living in a house built in 1886 in which my great-grandmother (from the other side of the family) grew up. I spent many summers there as a kid. It’s customary for Czechs and Slovaks living in a city to keep a small cottage (chalupa) in a near-by village to escape to on the weekends. This house was our chalupa. I thought I knew the house inside-out, and hence I was quite surprised when grandma asked me to go to the cellar (komora) and bring the veggies. I did not think this house has a cellar. To my surprise, it does.
The cellar is located underneath the living room. It is a small dugout accessed by lifting up the carpets and then pulling on one of the wooden boards making the floor. Even more surprising was finding out that this hole was used by the partisans (guerrilla fighters) during World War II. During the War, Czechoslovakia was split up into two parts. The Czech Republic was annexed into the Third Reich but Slovakia became an independent state under a puppet government installed by Berlin. Local population opposed this, and a large homegrown opposition to the Nazi presence sprang up. These guerrilla fighters were known as partisans or partizáni. The center of the Slovak national uprising (Slovenské Národné Povstanie) was my hometown of Banská Bystrica, which now houses a large memorial dedicated to this historical event. Anyway, turns out that, just like in the movies, Nazis came by the house to look for partisans. It’s good they did not find them, as I am sure my great-grandparents (and thus my predecessors) would have been dealt with quite fast on the spot!
In the cellar, I found the largest carrot (mrkva) I have ever seen. Besides the carrot, you will need parsley (petržlen) and onion (cibuľa). You can also use parsley leaves (petržlenová vnať) and kohlrabi (kaleráb). Peel the root vegetables and the onion and fry for about 2 minutes on oil (olej).
Add a small chicken (kura) and top off the pot with water (voda)
Cover and let cook for a while. Once the soup starts boiling, lower the heat, otherwise the soup will end up muddy. Once the soup is done, i.e., the vegetables are getting soft, take a small strainer and scoop out the brown muck that formed on the surface. Also add salt (soľ) to taste. We used two of these small spoons.
Let the soup go through few more bubbles, so the salt has a chance to dissolve. Serve by placing cooked noodles in the bowl and then topping off with the soup. Enjoy! It goes great with the home baked flat bread and rolls.
Although there is no possibility that your grandma makes a better chicken noodle soup
I would still like to read about your family recipe. Please post the recipe for your favorite chicken noodle soup and share with others. Thanks!
Dear Lubos,
Interesting tidbit about the “Inglorious Bastards” scene! Totally badass.
Your friend,
Nicole
Parsley root is not parsnips.
Parsnips are relatives of parsley. Parsley has strong flavor, parsnips has bitter flavor.
In soup parsley taste better than parsnips.
Ahoj Lubos,
“Parsley root” is labeled as parsnip in the markets. I’ve always wondered what parsnips were exactly, thanks for leading me to this discovery and thanks for all the wonderful recipes!
Amanda
OK here I go, I, and my family, made and still making “Kuraciu Polievku” a very similar way as you described. And yes, there is no good chicken soup without “parsley root”.
Here are a few differences (not significant)
We always put a couple of garlic cloves in, and (this is my addition ) – a couple of dried hot peppers in.
Now there is a difference (or not, as I make it both ways)
There is a “clear version” of Chicken soup and a “whole hearty” version.
In “clean version”, you strain all veggies, and meat, and start basically with chicken broth, You make home made noodles in a form of thin sliced noodles, as you described in that other noodle recipe (looking like “angel hairs” in supermarket), or “krupičky”, really fine small size (kind of barley size) pasta, and then you add some of the cooked veggies (carrot mostly) Chicken you can use to bake with mashed potatoes to make an additional dish
In the “whole hearty” version you do the same, except, you put back into soup a small cut up pieces of chicken, and in this case it works better with “krupičky”
Both are good
The recipes above miss a lot of ingredienst. Here, in Bratislava, we prepare really excellent home made chicken soup.
Ingredients (for 5liter pot):
8 big carrots, 4 parsley roots, celery (better is to use wild celery, it is green soft and mild), one piece of kohlrabi, few small coleworts, onion, herbs (rosemary and green leaves of parsley- a lot, tied in a bunch, we call it “grunzeug” from german, half of a chicken, salt, blackpepper, small chilli pepper.
We put everything to the pot, add cold water to cover all the vegetables and meat, naw we put the salt in it. We cover the pot with a lid and on low heat cook the soup cca TWO hours. 30 minutes is not enough to get really strong soup with full flavour. We serve it with noodles or with small parsley dumplings
Sorry to say, but if you skim all foam from soup you taking all best nutritions out of it.
Also flavor is not the same.
Nice site!
My mother is from Dolna Krupa. She uses parsley root (petržl) AND whole allspice in her chicken soup. Petržl is properly called Hamburg Parsley. Its flavor is much more delicate than parsnip, to which it is related.
Our recipe is a bit different. Use a 3-4 lb whole chicken (or legs/parts). Put it in a pot, cover with cold water, bring to a quick boil. Once all the foam comes up, strain the whole lot, rinse off the meat, clean up the pot, and then start over (make sure the water level barely covers the chicken, for best flavor). This gives you a clearer broth and there’s less skimming to do.
Once it comes to a boil, turn it to simmer. Skim any remaing bits as needed.
Add (cut up or whole, your choice):
Carrot, petržl (with leaves), celery, leek or onion, and 4 or 5 whole allspice, plus a few peppercorns, and salt.
Simmer for a hour & a half to 2 hours.
Take out the chicken to cool.
Serving options:
1.Serve with fine noodles(rezance)and prinkle some of the cooked carrot cut up in small pieces into each bowl for color.
2.If you cut up the veggies in small pieces before putting them in the soup, you can simply serve them in the light broth, which makes for a simple variation.
Also, you can further cook the cooled chicken meat with onion, salt, pepper and paprika in two ways:
1. Debone and shred the meat, then add to a saucepan with sautéed diced onion, season with generous amounts of paprika, pepper and garlic salt
2. Season chicken pieces with paprika, pepper, garlic salt, bake at 325F for 20-30 mins till crispy on top.
Yum!
Thanks Luci! I’ll try your recipe.
there is a lot to like about chicken soup.
Now, anybody of you are making a soup from beef bones? I like it a lot, especially finishing it with “liver dumplings”.
If anybody is interested, I’ll post a recipe, as I am making it right now
I live in the deep south. Mama’s recipe was
one chopped onion one chopped carrot salt and pepper one chicken cut into 8 pieces. Saute vegetables in butter or olive oil 2=3 minutes.
Add chicken cover with water bring to a boil.
Turn down to simmer. Cook until chicken is done. The noodles were simply egg salt and flour rolled thin and cut into thin strips and poached and drained and put into soup. The chicken and stock were simmered a little while longer. It was served sprinkled with finely minced Italian parsley.