Southwest Chicken Soup

A friend gave me a recipe for Southwestern Turkey Soup ... she had discovered it in one of her Cooking Light cookbooks and LOVED it.  I love a good soup so decided to try it.  I followed her modifications, like substituting chicken for the turkey (turkey costs a FORTUNE in Australia) and made a few modifications of my own.  Here's what I did.

2 teaspoons olive oil

1 cup diced onion

1 cup diced red capsicum (bell pepper)

3 garlic cloves, minced

2 tablespoons all-purpose flour

500g chicken breast, cut into bite sized pieces

2 tablespoons no added salt tomato paste

1/2 teaspoon chili powder

1 teaspoon ground cumin

1/4 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper

1/8 teaspoon salt

4 cups low sodium chicken stock

2 bay leaves

1 can chopped tomatoes

1 can cannellini beans, rinsed and drained

1 can black beans, rinsed and drained

1 can whole kernel corn, drained

1 can green chillies

To Serve:

fresh coriander (cilantro), chopped

spring onion, chopped

avocado

lime wedges

corn chips

Heat oil in a large heavy bottom pan over medium-high heat.  Add onion, capsicum, and garlic.  Saute a few minutes or until tender.  

Coat chicken with flour.  Add chicken to pan and cook until browned on all sides. 

Add tomato paste & spices.  Stir. 

Add chicken stock.  I added a little and loosened all the yummy crusty bits that had browned on the bottom of the pan, then added the rest.  Add bay leaves, tomatoes, beans, corn and green chillies.  Bring to the boil. 

Reduce heat to medium and simmer 15 minutes.  Remove bay leaves and serve.  Squeeze lime over individual bowls and then top with fresh coriander, spring onion, avocado & corn chips.

This is delicious. Try it !

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Just for our records ... One serve is 1 and 1/3 cup soup, 1/4 cup corn chips, 2 tablespoons avocado and 1 lime wedge .... 287 calories.

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