The arrival of autumn brings the inevitable colds and runny noses. Your disease-ravaged body begins to crave for something toasty and luscious. A hearty Chinese chicken soup is here to rescue you.

Chicken soup is a dish that is familiar to most cultures. The Chinese, who are known as the masters of soup making, have various recipes for this nourishing treat.

There's chicken soup with noodles and ginger, rice, veggies, wontons or without any chicken at all. There's even a black chicken soup.

Don't go hunting for black chickens now, although they do look really cool. We are going to treat ourselves to a fragrant bowl of chicken and corn soup (or “Chicken of the Corn”, as I so cleverly named it).

Fills you, heals you

My research says chicken corn soup is a native of south-west China and is considered to be an Indo-Chinese fusion soup.

It's commonly made with creamed corn and home-made chicken stock – don't try to cheat by using bouillon cubes.

It's scientifically proven that chicken soup can have medicinal properties. However, I assure you that, without the real chicken stock, the nutritional value and healing qualities drop substantially. Not to mention the poor taste...

You can make this soup even more healthy if you use fresh corn instead of canned. Corn is rich in protein, minerals, vitamins and fibre. Plus, it can improve your appetite, amp up your brain and protect you from cancer. It basically has soup-erpowers!

We also have ginger and garlic, the all-time champions of healthy food. Oh yeah, did I already mention that this soup is really delicious? What are you waiting for? Get your chicken and corn because it's soup time.

Note: You get a lot of soup when following this recipe, so feel free to reduce the amounts. I was cooking for 10 people.

Get your chicken and corn because it's soup time.

Get your chicken and corn because it's soup time. gbtimes

Chicken and corn soup


2,5 litres of chicken stock
2 chicken thighs
2 corn cobs
2 eggs
2 garlic cloves, finely chopped
2 tbsp soy sauce
2 tbsp fish sauce
2 tsp cornstarch mixed with 2 tbsp water
1 tsp sesame oil
pinch of ginger, finely chopped
fresh dill and parsley
salt and white pepper


1. If you don't have ready-made stock, buy two chicken thighs and boil them with some parsley and dill until tender. Let the thighs cool down, then shred into thin strips. Use the liquid as stock.

2. Wash the corn cobs and remove the husks. Take the corn off the cob using a sharp knife. Hold the cob vertically, resting the bottom on a cutting board, and slice down.

3. Add the chicken, corn, garlic, ginger and seasoning to the stock. Boil for 10 minutes over medium heat, stirring occasionally.

4. Stir in the cornstarch mixture gradually, to thicken the soup. Add more cornstarch, if you want the soup to be thicker.

5. Whisk the eggs in a small bowl and carefully trickle into the boiling soup from a fork, or chopsticks. It will set in cool strands. And then you're done.

Enjoy the soup as it is or spice it up with some Sichuan chilli sauce, because the taste of the soup is very mild for us fire breathers.

If you don't dig peppers, but want some extra flavour, then drizzle with some sesame oil before serving.

Slurp away and stay healthy!

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