cookbook_challenge | Brodu Tat-Tigiega (Maltese Chicken Soup)

I'm half-Maltese and do a fair a bit of Maltese cooking. Last year I came across a Maltese cooking blog and bookmarked a load of recipes to try. One recipe I came across is for a soup my mum used to make all the time - my mum even showed me how to make it once, but I never got round to making it (I was a student at the time and not much of a cook) and then I kind of forgot about it. I'd never seen a recipe on any blogs or in any of my Maltese cookbooks for this particular soup, so I had wondered if it was a recipe unique to my family, but then I found a recipe for it on this blog and realised that it was almost the exact some recipe that my mum used to make!

Recipe here

I made a number of alterations, partly according to my memories of the version my mum used to make. I used 4 chicken drumsticks instead of a whole chicken and I browned them in the pan first, before adding them back in with the water/stock. I used more garlic (4 cloves instead of 1). And I left out the potato and the egg, as I don't remember my mum ever adding these to her soup.

It doesn't look pretty, but it is hearty and it tastes good.

My mum's rule of thumb is that you can use any meat on the bone - you could even use leftover chicken from a roast dinner. I used orzo pasta as that's what I had in the cupboard, but any small soup pasta will do or you can use some rice. I also think the stock cubes are optional, as the meat and bones will add flavour to the soup, especially if you cook it for a long time.