Sopa Rápida de Gallina India
Sopa de Gallina India·(SO-pah de gah-YEE-nah EEN-dyah)
Panes con Pollo & The Weekend Feast
This isn't the tough, free-range gallina india cooked in massive cauldrons over open wood fires, yielding the heavy slick of golden collagen a standard supermarket chicken could never dream of. At six-thirty on a Tuesday, the illusion relies on a pack of supermarket chicken thighs, forty-five minutes, and a heavy pinch of achiote once the broth boils. We cheat the clock. The secret is the unashamed hit of Maggi bouillon, and crucially, how the meal is served. The chicken is yanked from the broth, rubbed with French's mustard, and blasted under the broiler to blister while the rustic root vegetables and rice simmer. Drop fresh mint and culantro into the hot broth, squeeze a wedge of lime, and eat.
Ingredients
- stewing hen1 large
- white onion1/2 large
- green bell pepper1/2 large
- garlic4 med
- Roma tomato2 med
- Maggi Sopa de Gallina India seasoning1 tbsp
- salt1 tbsp
- water10 cup
- chayote1 med
- Mexican grey squash2 med
- carrot2 large
- potato2 med
- corn on the cob1 large
- green beans1 cup
- fresh mint3 small
- culantro4 large
- raw long-grain white rice1/4 cup
- yellow mustard2 tbsp
- Worcestershire sauce1 tbsp
- ground cumin1 tsp
Method
- 01
Place the sectioned stewing hen, onion, bell pepper, tomatoes, garlic, Maggi seasoning, and salt into an electric pressure cooker.
Cover with water up to the maximum fill line, usually about 10 cups. Cook on high pressure for 35 minutes, then allow a natural release for 10 minutes before manually releasing the remaining pressure. If you had to compromise with regular bone-in chicken thighs, reduce the cooking time to 12 minutes.
- 02
Carefully extract the pieces of hen using tongs and transfer them to a foil-lined baking sheet.
Strain out and discard the mushy onion, bell pepper, and tomato skins from the pot, leaving behind a clean, deeply golden broth.
- 03
Turn the pressure cooker to the sauté or boil function and add the corn and carrots.
Let these harder vegetables simmer in the broth for 5 minutes.
- 04
Stir in the potatoes, chayote, and raw white rice, simmering for another 8 minutes.
The rice will cook directly in the liquid, naturally thickening the soup.
- 05
Drop in the squash, green beans, fresh mint, and culantro, simmering for a final 4 minutes until all the vegetables are fork-tender.
The pungent culantro and cooling mint are non-negotiable here; they act as a crucial aromatic counterweight to the intense, heavy lipids naturally rendered from the skin of the hen.
- 06
Turn the oven broiler on high while the vegetables finish simmering.
Brush the reserved pieces of hen generously with the yellow mustard, Worcestershire sauce, and cumin, seasoning with a little extra salt and black pepper.
- 07
Broil the hen for 5 to 7 minutes until the skin is deeply browned and charred at the edges.
This mimics the rustic, smoky flavor of roasting the bird directly over the traditional wood-fired embers.
- 08
Serve the meal in two parts.
Ladle the rich broth and rustic vegetables into deep, wide bowls. Serve the charred, mustard-rubbed gallina asada on a separate communal platter alongside thick, warm corn tortillas and lime wedges.