Leftover Roast Chicken in a Warming Thai Coconut & Lemongrass Broth

Thai coconut and lemongrass soup is one of my favourite ways to use up leftover roast chicken. That said, it’s just as delicious without - served simply as a fragrant broth. You can also easily switch up the protein to tofu, prawns, or even gyozas work beautifully. If you serve it alongside rice, it feels more like a curry than a soup.

If mushrooms aren’t your thing, feel free to leave them out. They’re traditionally used because they soak up all the wonderful flavours of the broth, but the soup is just as satisfying without them. I sometimes skip the mushrooms altogether, depending on what I have in the fridge and add a handful of leafy greens instead.

It may look like a lot of ingredients but things like mirin, soy sauce, fish sauce, rice wine vinegar are all things you can cook with regularly and add tons of flavour to dishes, so once you’ve bought them they will last for ages.

Lime leaves are a brilliant ingredient to keep in the freezer - you can find them in most Asian supermarkets, and they add a lime, fresh fragrance to so many dishes. I especially love using them in quick, brothy rice situation or noodle bowls.

Ingredients:

5g fish sauce

5g soy sauce

5 g Mirin

5 lime leaves

5g rice wine vinegar

Zest of ½ lime

12g fresh lime juice

20g fresh galangal (can buy in Asian shops)OR ginger (finely chopped)

2 cloves of garlic (minced)

1 stick of lemongrass (trimmed, remove outer layers & chop the core finely. Crush into paste, or if straining the soup later, then a rough chop is fine)

400g coconut milk

1 litre stock (fresh if possible, or @kallo chicken cubes)

½ pack M & S frozen bone broth (100g)

100g oyster mushrooms

1 leek, sliced

3 shallots or 1 large red onion, sliced

30g fresh coriander

½ a cooked roast chicken

20g coconut oil

Pinch of @maldonsalt

Garnish: pickled chillies and toasted sesame seeds

Method:

1.⁠ ⁠Fry the mushrooms in a dry pan over medium heat with a small pinch of salt. They’ll release water and look a bit slimy at first - keep cooking until the moisture evaporates and they start to go golden. You can add a touch of oil at the end to help them colour , then remove and set aside

2.⁠ ⁠Add a large tablespoon of coconut oil (about 20g) to the same pan and gently cook the onions and leek until soft, sweet, and lightly golden

3.⁠ ⁠Stir in the garlic, galangal or gjnger, lemongrass paste, lime leaves, and a handful of fresh coriander stalks (approx 15g)

4.⁠ ⁠Cook gently, stirring so nothing catches - you don’t want it to burn or it’ll turn bitter. You can add a little more coconut oil if needed to prevent burning

5.⁠ ⁠Pour in the stock and bone broth, filling the saucepan about halfway, and let it gently simmer for around 10 minutes

6.⁠ ⁠Lower the heat, stir in the coconut milk, and let it warm through for a few minutes

7.⁠ ⁠Add the lime juice, mirin, soy sauce, fish sauce, rice wine vinegar,and lime zest. Taste and adjust seasoning if needed. If straining, do this now in a sieve

8.⁠ ⁠Return the mushrooms to the broth, add your chicken in, and finish with a small pinch of Maldon Salt

9.⁠ ⁠Garnish with pickled chilli, sesame seeds, and fresh coriander leaves

View cooking video here

Ingredients

• 1 whole free range chicken
• ½ onion
• 2 leeks
• 1 carrot
• 1 celery stalk
• 1 whole bulb garlic
• leftover herbs (eg. thyme/parsley stalks)
• 1 tbsp dried herbs
• 20g butter
• 4 bay leaves
• 1 Kallo stock cube
• 350ml white wine (I used La Vielle Ferme chicken wine)
• 350ml hot water
• 1 tbsp Maldon salt
• ½ tbsp black pepper
• 2 tbsp extra virgin olive oil (optional depending on if you want the skin crispy)

Instructions

1. Heat oven to 220°C. Place the chicken in a large pot or Dutch oven with the vegetables.

2. Add the wine, butter, dried herbs, bay leaves and stock cube. Pour in hot water until the liquid comes about halfway up the chicken, then season well.

3. Reduce the oven to 170°C, cover with the lid and cook.

4. After 30 minutes, turn the chicken breast-side down in the liquid. (Skip this step if you want extra crispy skin.)

5. If you flipped the chicken, turn it breast-side up again for the final 20–30 minutes, remove the lid, drizzle with olive oil and increase the oven to 200°C to colour the skin. (For the crispiest skin, leave the chicken breast-side up the whole time.)

6. Cook until the juices run clear or the internal temperature reaches 75°C, about 1½–2 hours.

7. Remove the chicken and strain the cooking liquid to use as stock. Reduce it if you want a stronger flavour.