Brazilian Style Chicken and Rice Broth

This is the kind of soup Brazilian families make when someone needs feeding and nobody wants fuss. Canja de galinha translates roughly to "chicken soup," and it shows up at birthdays, after surgeries and on rainy Sunday afternoons. The idea is simple: a whole pot of chicken, rice and vegetables, with just enough water to turn everything into something you can eat with a spoon for days.

Chicken thigh is the right choice here. It stays juicy through a long, gentle simmer, and the bones and skin you trim off give the broth a deeper flavour than breast meat ever would. Browning the thigh first in olive oil is worth the few extra minutes, because those brown bits on the bottom of the pot carry the flavour into the broth. Don't skip the Roma tomatoes either. Halving and seeding them means they melt into the soup rather than leaving watery lumps behind.

Rice is the ingredient that surprises people about this soup. It keeps absorbing liquid as it sits, so the leftovers will be thicker than the pot you served from. If you plan to keep some for later, you can loosen it with a splash of hot water or stock when you reheat it. Store the chicken and broth in a sealed container in the fridge for up to three days, and freeze any portions you won't get to in that time. Rice tends to go soft after freezing, so think of frozen portions as a base to be refreshed with extra stock and fresh parsley.

For serving, a bowl of this soup is plenty on its own, but a simple side of Soy Ginger Brown Rice with Scallions makes a lovely contrast if you want something with more chew and bite. If you're cooking for one or two, Simple Brown Rice Side for One lets you cook a small amount without a pot of leftovers. For a lighter lunch the next day, Poached Chicken Salad with Orange and Dates uses leftover chicken in a completely different way and is good cold.

Taste the soup just before you serve it. The stock and the rice both hold salt differently, so add it a pinch at a time. A generous handful of parsley at the end lifts the whole pot, and a few cracks of black pepper on top make it feel like you meant to make it.