Chicken Corn Chowder with Bacon Crumble

I read this recipe, online, at Facebook. The original recipe (veg version) belongs to Rachel of The Stay At Home Chef. I stuck to her recipe the first time around, but the added sugar was a big mistake coz the chowder tasted very sweet. *rolls eyes* That’s a big NO in my book. The second time around, I changed the potato and corn cooking technique and omitted the sugar entirely. I also added chicken shreds. The chowder was 100% perfect! I am penning the recipe as perfected by me so as to avoid confusion. This is a non-spicy, creamy soup and, of course, it’s absolutely yum! Do give this one a try. Your kids and family will love it!

Ingredients:

¼ cup butter

3 tablespoons flour

1 small white onion, diced

1 cup boiled chicken, shredded or diced small

3 cups chicken broth

2 cups potatoes, peeled and cut into 1-inch cubes (use new potatoes, the clean thin-skinned ones)

3 cups frozen golden corn

2 teaspoons salt

¼ teaspoon white pepper powder

1½ cups heavy cream, gently smoothen with a whisk

1½ cups milk

225 grams bacon, fried crisp in a non-stick pan (sans oil) and crumbled

Method:

1.    Put frozen golden corn in a pressure cooker with water and pressure cook for 1 whistle. Reduce heat and continue cooking for 3 minutes. Shut off stove and allow the pressure to release by itself.

2.    When the pressure has let off, open the cooker, drain the corn; keep aside. Discard the liquid.

3.    Rinse the cooker, add the cubed potatoes. Add water to cover the potatoes. Pressure cook with whistle on but do not allow the whistle to go off. As soon as you realize the whistle is about to go off, shut the stove immediately. Allow the built-up pressure to release by itself.

4.    When the pressure has let off, open the cooker, drain the potatoes; keep aside. Discard the liquid. The potatoes at this stage are semi-cooked.

5.    Melt butter in a large saucepan over medium high heat. The entire soup will be made in this pot so make sure it is big enough.

6.    Add the onions, lower heat (to ensure the butter does not burn) and sauté for about 5 to 7 minutes.

7.    Stir in the flour, until a paste forms and cook for 1 to 2 minutes. Do not allow the flour to darken and change colour.

8.    Slowly whisk in the chicken stock to get a smooth mixture and bring to a boil.

9.    Add the potatoes, corn, salt and pepper.

10. Cover and simmer until the potatoes are tender; about 15-20 minutes. The cooking time will depend on how large or small you have cut them. The potatoes should be cooked through but shouldn’t be mushy; they should retain their cubed shape.

11. When the potatoes are tender, add in the milk and cream and stir to combine.

12. Check seasoning. Add and adjust if required.

13. Serve hot topped with crumbled bacon.

Bacon Crumble

This paragraph is mainly for newbies in the kitchen arena. 

1. Lay out bacon strips in a non-stick pan. Do not allow the strips to touch each other.
   
   
   
2. On low heat allow the bacon to crisp on one side. Flip the strips when crisp and crisp up the other side too. 
3. Remove the crisp bacon strips on kitchen towel paper to drain the excess fat.
   
   
   
4. When cool, break or snip into tiny bits. The size of the bits is entirely your choice.
   
   
   
5. You can make more, snip then and store them in an airtight jar in the fridge. They keep nicely and can be used over scrambled eggs. 😉 The bacon fat that collects in the non-stick pan can be stored too. Use your imagination and use it to flavour rice, eggs, etc. There is also a microwave method which I did not use and am too lazy to type out. Please check You Tube or Google for the same. 

Chef Notes:

1.    I always have ready stock/broth in the freezer hence did not have to make it from scratch. In case you wish to make it from scratch, I’d advise you to go with half a kilo of Chicken Wings, 1 carrot peeled and diced large, 5-6 garlic cloves, 1 potato diced large, a teaspoon of ginger-garlic paste, salt, 1 whole green chilli (do not cut or slit) and approximately 900-1000 mils of water. I have advised Chicken Wings as the chicken skin on the wings will lend immense flavour to the stock/broth and the chicken shredded from the wings will be just enough for this recipe.

2.    Do opt for frozen (raw) golden corn. Tinned golden corn can be used but the texture and bite of the soup will differ greatly. I would not advise it!

3.    I opted for cream from a local dairy instead of heavy cream. It was quite the same as the one we get in an Amul Cream carton.

4.    Vegetarians can omit the bacon and chicken and use a flavourful vegetable stock instead. Also, instead of chicken and bacon they may opt for diced carrots, a handful of peas and mushrooms to go with the corn kernels.

5.    As I mentioned earlier, the original recipe tells you to use 2 tablespoons sugar. With the corn lending sweetness to the chowder, the added sugar simply ruined the warm, hearty base flavour of the chowder. The chowder got to darn sweet. I would not advise you to add sugar; not even a wee bit, not at all.

6.    You may use black pepper if you don’t mind a black flaked/speckled soup. I stuck to white pepper.

7.    As mentioned at the onset, the original recipe belongs to Rachel of The Stay At Home Chef. This version of the recipe and the photographs, though, belong to my blog, Kenzy’s Kitchen Korner. You may share the direct blog-link of the recipe/s but do NOT publish my recipes, and/or my photographs, on any blogsite or website without my explicit consent or attempt to pass off my recipe/s as your own. You will be held accountable for plagiarism.

Some more photographs:

Yes, I sourced white onions for this recipe. That's just me, I prefer not to compromise unless I really have to.