Chicken Cilantro Soup

Like any good Californians, my family and I have a favorite local Mexican place that is leagues better than the Taco Bells and Del Tacos of the world.  Ours is called Hot Chile, although it seems like a pretty recent choice on their part to even use a name - for years it was listed on Yelp as "Mexican Fast Food", and we can usually just say we're going to "the little Mexican place" to get across which restaurant we mean.

While the staples like tacos, chips, and salsa are solid there, the dish we order almost every time is their chicken cilantro soup.  It's a simple chicken soup made more dynamic with some interesting ingredients you don't always see in soups, like avocado and cucumbers.  Unlike some recipes for a similar dish I've seen online, their version has rice in it as well, making it a hearty and complete meal.

I decided to use some leftover rotisserie chicken for my version, but you could easily just cook a chicken breast in the broth and shred it as well.  I also went light on the jalapeño as the version I'm used to isn't particularly spicy, but a hotter version would probably be great as well.

Chicken Cilantro Soup
5 cloves garlic, minced
½ white onion
½ jalapeño pepper, stemmed and seeded
½ tomato, finely diced
½ cucumber, quartered and sliced into ¼ in chunks
1 carrot, peeled and sliced
1 stalk celery, sliced
1 avocado, pitted and cubed
Juice of 1-2 limes
¼ cilantro, chopped
1 quart chicken stock
1 cup shredded rotisserie chicken
½ cup quick-cook brown rice
1 tbsp vegetable oil
Salt and pepper to taste

Separate ½ white onion into two pieces: dice one half roughly (about 1 cm squares) and one half finely (about 1mm squares).  Mix finely diced onion with tomato and set aside.

Heat oil in a large pot and add roughly chopped onion along with garlic and jalapeño.  Cook 1-2 minutes, until onion is slightly translucent.

Add rice to pot and stir for 1-2 minutes until slightly toasted.  Add chicken stock to pot along with carrot, cucumber, and celery.  Bring to boil, then cover and turn heat to low to simmer.

After about 20 minutes, uncover pot and add cilantro, lime juice, and avocado.  Simmer, covered, for an additional 5 minutes.  Taste broth and season with salt and pepper as needed.

To serve, add broth to a bowl and top with shredded chicken and tomato-onion mixture.  Garnish with fresh cilantro leaves and serve immediately.