Easter

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

January 31, 2014
0
0 Ratings
  • Serves 3
Author Notes

This is a soup that every Cypriot family often makes. It's a big-time comfort soup, and can be as heavy or as light as you want to make it. The lemony and frothy broth is filled with chicken and rice, and I love adding garden peas and lots of freshly ground pepper on top to give it a kick. —christina@afroditeskitchen

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Ingredients
  • 7 cups homemade chicken broth
  • 3/4 cup rice
  • 1/2 cup cold water
  • 2 large eggs
  • 1 large lemon
  • 1 tbs water
  • 1 cup fresh garden peas (optional)
  • salt & pepper to taste
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.
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7 Reviews

Transcendancing July 12, 2014
Wow, this is such a simple and gorgeous recipe. So simple, easy, and quick to make. Ours took longer because we made the stock beforehand (but we find this is always worthwhile and cheaper). We have a housemate who is also very inexperienced with cooking and we think this is also something he (or anyone learning to cook) could make. We found that with just two eggs alone that the soup was a little thin for our taste and that the addition of two extra egg yolks brought the consistency up just enough to make it feel like a creamy soup that was a little thicker, but not actually 'thick'. The burst of green freshness from the peas (we used frozen ones) and the cracked black pepper on serving really just made this dish. We definitely plan to make this again and make it part of our chicken soup rotation.
Hi Le Bec Fin! I added another egg yolk tonight, juice of another lemon half and about 1/4 cup more rice. I noticed after it cooled, it thickened up a bit more - so would be good on reheating. The other thing I thought about doing was to add a teaspoon of cornflour to the egg/lemon mix, but I thought it might taste a bit funny in the end so didn't experiment this time. That could work though. I wouldn't add flour to thicken this soup - because there is no stage where you could fry it to "cook" it, so I think cornflour would be your best bet, if you want it thicker than the extra egg/lemon/rice option. Hope that helps?
Le Bec Fin - I am planning to make it tomorrow and will let you know how it goes!
Thanks Wendy! Yes, it's a recipe which I make a lot when I have frozen chicken broth because it's so straightforward! xx
healthierkitchen February 4, 2014
Great and easy version, Christina!
Hiya, let me have a think. I totally understand, because I really love mine on the thicker/richer side than usual. I know sometimes I add one extra egg yolk and juice form an additional 1/2 lemon - to give it more of a punch. The starch from the rice also helps make it a bit thicker, so sometimes I add a bit more too. I am going to have a think. I was going to make it this week, so if it's ok, I can experiment and send you some of my experiment tips?
LeBec F. February 4, 2014
christina, i know this may not be traditional, but i would really like to make an avgolemeno base/liquid that is thicker and richer than the usual. Have you ever had one like that? Would you think of my adding more egg yolks to achieve this and any thoughts for how many? thx much!