Chicken Sotanghon Soup

Now this recipe came about because we found a pack of dried shitake mushrooms that was bought by Becca around a year ago, and because it was nearing expiry date, I just dreamt up some novel dish for it.  Notice that we used commercially cooked chicken for the recipe--in this instance we bought roasted chicken from Chooks-To-Go which is the roast chicken division of Bounty Fresh group (they have branches all over Metro Manila).  This not only makes it an easy last-minute decision, but also the built-in flavor of the chicken makes the soup so much tastier!  You can, of course, buy cooked chicken from any neighboring store (e.g. Senior Pedro, Baliwag, S&R, SM, Robinsons, Max, Andoks, etc.).


3 heads of garlic, chopped
2 white onions, minced
1 whole cooked chicken (preferably roasted), deboned and sliced (if you are in a hurry, forget the deboning part, just slice and throw in...)
100 grams of dried shitake mushrooms, soaked for a few hours and sliced (if you are in a hurry, you can also use the equivalent amount of canned shitake)
2 chicken cooking cubes (Knorr or Maggi will do)
200 grams sotanghon (soaked for around an hour)
3 liters of hot water (add if you want it soupier, then adjust on the chicken cubes)


Saute garlic and onions, add in shitake mushrooms at high heat.  After a couple of minutes, lower heat, add cooked chicken & chicken cubes.  Pour in water, bring back to boil.   Add salt and pepper to taste.  In about 10 minutes, add sotanghon and wait a few more minutes until cooked.  Serve hot.


Sometimes the kids love this with a little calamansi and chopped green onions sprinkled at table side.  Enjoy!