Chicken soup with egg & lemon (Kotosoupa avgolemono)

A classic!

1 large organic chicken

1 large or 2 small carrots

a few sprigs parsley and thyme

coarse sea salt & pepper (opt.: a small piece of mace or ginger)

100 g rice (wat is soeprijst? Ronde rijst?)

2 eggs

Juice from 2 lemons

If this is to be a main-dish soup, you can also boil some maize kernels along with the chicken.

 

Rinse the chicken well and place it in a large soup pot with 4 liters water, the scraped and chopped carrot, salt & pepper and herbs & optional mace/ginger. Bring to a boil, then turn down heat and simmer 1½ hours. It may be necessary to skim off foam. When the chicken is tender, remove from the pan. Part of the chicken meat, chopped fine, can be returned to the soupbut you can also save it all for use in another dish.

There should be at least 2 l of bouillon left in the pan. If not, add some water. Add the rice and boil 15-20 minutes until the rice is done. Remove about ½ l of bouillon to a bowl. Separate the eggs. Beat the egg whites with a pinch of salt until stiff. Stir in the egg yolks, the lemon juice, and the reserved bouillon, little by little, until it becomes a smooth, creamy sauce. Pour this into the soup, keeping it on the heat another minute or two to heat it up again, and serve immediately.