Spicy Green Chili Soup

This green chili soup was one of many recipes that Diana and I cooked as a part of Dinner’s With D.  It was amazingly spicy with a cool finish from the yogurt, lime and cilantro that topped it.  I made multiple modifications to the recipe in order for it to be deemed “kidney friendly,” which in the end, astronomically reduced the sodium levels.  These adjustments included using an organic, low sodium broth, omitting the added table salt and substituting the sour cream for greek yogurt, which I actually prefer.

What you need:

1  pound boneless, skinless chicken breasts, cut into 1/2 inch pieces

1 t black pepper

2 T flour

1 T olive oil

1 medium white onion, finely chopped

1/4 t cayenne pepper

12 tomatillos, husked chopped coarsely

2 green peppers, seeded and chopped

2 serreno peppers, seeded and minced

2 t ground cumin

1 t minced chipotle pepper in adobe sauce

1 t oregano

34 oz organic, low sodium chicken or vegetable broth

shredded monterey jack cheese

chopped cilantro

greek yogurt

lime wedges

chopped corn tortillas

Tip:

Be sure to remove all the seeds from the peppers, and be careful not to touch your eyes or your face while doing so.  Peppers are like cats, you never know how they are going to react, so it’s best to be cautious and prepared.  Otherwise you will end up like me, near tears and hunched over your bathroom sink, rubbing greek yogurt all over your face.

Cut the green peppers in the middle from top to bottom.  Enjoy the silly or scary faces that the mysterious pepper always seems to hold.

The process:

Combine chicken with pepper and flour in a medium bowl. Toss to evenly coat. Heat 1 tablespoon olive oil in large soup pan over medium-high heat. Add chicken to pan and saute until golden brown on all sides (about 5 minutes). Remove chicken.  Stir in onion and cayenne pepper and saute until soft (3-5 minutes). Add garlic and saute for 1 minute. Stir in tomatillos, green peppers, serranos, cumin, chipotle pepper and oregano.  Saute 1 minute.  Add broth and reserved chicken. Bring to a boil; reduce heat and simmer until mixture thickens (30 minutes).

Garnish: Ladle chile into bowls.  Garnish with tortillas, cheese, cilantro, greek yogurt and a lime wedge.

Servings: 4-5

The Stats: (without garnishes) 65 Calories, 3 grams fat, 130 mg sodium (tripling these numbers will give you the approximate stats with garnishes)

The Review: It turned out delicious, and even better knowing that my kidneys won’t be taking the punch for it tomorrow morning.  Marc, an avid hot sauce user, didn’t add the spicy topping until his second bowl.  That’s a good sign.