Cypriot Chicken-Lemon-Egg Soup ("Avgolemono")

Directions

1. In a medium pot, pour your chicken broth. (I usually use chicken drumsticks when making my chicken broth, and simply take some pieces of the cooked drumstick and add it to my strained chicken stock to form the base of this soup. Then I add my rice. You could also add pieces of raw chicken to an already made chicken stock, but ensure that the chicken is fully cooked prior to adding your rice.) Add your cooked chicken pieces (from making the chicken broth) and the rice. Cook the rice in the chicken broth until it is ready. After the rice is ready, lower the temperature and add 1/2 a cup of cold water.
2. In a separate bowl, beat the eggs with lemon juice until frothy. Add 1 tbs water to this mixture.
3. Start adding 1 to 2 cups of the broth slowly (slowly is important to prevent any curdling!) in the egg mixture a little at a time, continually beating it so that it doesn’t curdle.
4. Pour the egg mixture slowly back into the soup pot constantly stirring it to prevent curdling. Slowly raise the temperature of the soup and stir it a few more times. Add salt and pepper to taste and serve hot.
5. Optional (but highly recommended!) boil some shelled green peas and add them in the soup when you serve it. Add freshly ground black pepper on top of the soup for extra flavour.