Undeniyabowl

My weeknight lesson in extraction — getting more flavour out of what is already in the pot instead of adding more things to it.

The broth here comes out deep gold and properly savoury for two reasons, and neither of them is expensive. The turmeric and ginger spend a full minute in hot oil with the onions before any liquid arrives, and the chicken is thigh meat, which gives up collagen under pressure and leaves the broth with real body. The lemon and greens go in with the burner already off, so it tastes finished rather than stewed.

It is better on day two, it freezes beautifully, and it is the recipe I keep using to practise seasoning by taste rather than by measurement.

Niya Marino

Chicken, Lentil & Greens Soup (Instant Pot)

A golden, gingery one-pot chicken and lentil soup. Twenty-five minutes of pressure does what four hours on the stove would.

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Prep Time 15 minutes mins

Cook Time 30 minutes mins

Total Time 45 minutes mins

Servings: 8 servings

Course: Comfort Food, Dinner, Instant Pot, Main Course, One-Pot, Soup

Cuisine: American

Ingredients Method Notes

Ingredients

  

• 3 lb boneless skinless chicken thighs
• 2 cups black or green lentils
• 6 carrots sliced
• 6 celery stalks sliced
• 2 onions diced
• 6 garlic cloves minced
• 2 tbsp fresh ginger grated
• 2 tsp turmeric
• 8 cups low-sodium chicken broth
• 3 tbsp olive oil
• 4 handfuls dark leafy greens kale or chard
• 2 lemons juiced
• Salt and pepper

Method

 

1. Set the Instant Pot to Sauté. Heat the oil, soften the onions, then add garlic, ginger and turmeric and stir for a minute until fragrant. Hit Cancel.
2. Add the chicken, carrots, celery, lentils and broth. Season and stir to combine.
3. Seal the lid, set the valve to Sealing, and pressure cook on High for 20 minutes.
4. Let the pressure release naturally for 10 minutes, then carefully vent the rest.
5. Remove the chicken, shred with two forks, and return it to the pot.
6. Set to Sauté again, stir in the greens for 2–3 minutes until wilted, turn off, then stir in the lemon juice. Taste and adjust salt.

Notes

Bloom the spices before the liquid goes in. Turmeric and ginger carry their flavour in fat-soluble compounds, so a full minute in hot oil with the onions pulls far more out of them than dumping them into broth ever will. It is also where the broth gets that deep gold colour.

Sweat, don’t brown, the onions. You want them translucent and sweet, not caramelised — this soup should taste clean and bright rather than roasty.

Thighs, not breasts. Thigh meat has more fat and connective tissue, which pressure cooking turns into gelatin. That gelatin is what gives the broth body without any flour or cream. Breast meat has neither and goes stringy.

Shred in the pot, not on a board. Pull the chicken apart with two forks straight into the broth so every drop of juice stays in the soup.

Acid last, always. Lemon juice does two things badly under heat: its bright aromatics boil off, and the acid keeps lentil skins firm. Squeeze it in off the heat and the lentils stay tender while the soup tastes freshly finished.

Greens off the heat. Stir kale or chard into the hot soup with the lid on and the burner off; two minutes of residual heat is plenty and they keep their colour.

Canned lentils? Skip the pressure cook. Drain, rinse and stir them in at the end with the greens so they don’t collapse.

It is better on day two. Starch from the lentils continues to hydrate and the seasoning evens out overnight. Taste and re-season after reheating — cold dulls salt perception.

What I was practising: blooming and body

Blooming is the step almost every recipe skips and almost every good cook insists on. A lot of what you want out of turmeric, ginger, paprika or curry powder lives in fat-soluble compounds — curcumin in turmeric is the obvious one — and those compounds simply will not come out into water. Thirty to sixty seconds in hot oil pulls them into the fat, and the fat then disperses through the whole pot. The same spoonful of turmeric gives you two completely different soups depending on whether it went into the oil or into the broth.

Body is the other thing I was chasing. Chicken thighs carry more fat and far more connective tissue than breasts, and under pressure that connective tissue converts to gelatin. Gelatin is what makes a broth coat the back of a spoon and feel rich in your mouth without a drop of cream or a spoon of flour. If you have ever wondered why your homemade soup tastes correct but feels thin, this is usually the answer.

Two more things worth knowing

Cold flattens salt. Your perception of saltiness drops noticeably as food cools, which is why leftovers taste under-seasoned straight from the fridge and why you should never season a soup you intend to chill based on a cold spoonful. Reheat properly, then taste, then adjust.

Want it thicker without cream? Ladle out a cup of the lentils and broth, blend it smooth, and stir it back in. You are thickening with the starch that is already in the pot rather than adding fat, and it keeps the soup tasting like itself.

Next on the list for this one: swapping in dried chickpeas to see how much longer they need under pressure before they stop being gravel.