My Mom's "Hühnersuppe" (Chicken Noodle Soup)

This is a good old-fashioned chicken noodle soup, made from scratch. I learned it from my Mom, and she and her sisters learned it from her Mom, a family recipe :) It is a good hearty soup when you feel a cold is coming up during the winter days, and you can even freeze left overs.

Ingredients

Soup

• Soup hen (old chicken with lots of fat)
• Onion
• 3 Carrots
• 2 Leeks
• 1 cup frozen Peas
• 2 Teaspoons Salt and Pepper
• 2 Teaspoons Vegeta (or vegetable soup cube)

"Eierstich" (royale)

• 1/8 cup Milk
• 2 Egg
• Salt, Pepper, Nutmeg

Noodles and Dumplings

• 1-2 Eggs
• 1-2 Tablespoons Flour
• 1-2 Tablespoons coarse Semolina
• Salt, Pepper, Nutmeg

Preparation

The Soup:

1. Put the soup hen in a big pot (if too big, cut of the legs and wings and add on top). Add 1 sliced carrot and 1/2 sliced leek, salt and vegeta. Fill with water, so that the hen is completely covered. Let cook for about 2 hours till hen is soft. 
2. While the hen is cooking, prepare the the royale and the noodles and the dough for the dumplings (see recipe below).
3. After 2 hours, take the hen out of the water. Pour the water through a strainer into a new pot. This is important as there could be small splinter bones from the hen in the soup. Take the hen and peel of the white meat and cut into small pieces. Add the chicken meat pieces, the frozen peas and the rest of the carrots and leek to the soup. Let cook for another 10 min, till vegetables almost soft. 
4. Now, add the dumplings to the soup. Use the dumpling/noodle dough and take 2 teaspoons, wet them, and use about 1/2 teaspoon of dumpling dough to form the dumplings. The dumplings will rise about twice its size. Drop them into the boiling soup water. Dumplings will need to cook for about 5 minutes. The dumplings will first go under, but appear at the surface when they are fully cooked. If the dumpling doesn't stick together, that means that the dough is too runny. Add some more flour or semolina to increase the consistency of the dough and try again. 
5. When everything is cooked, add the pre-cooked noodles. Add salt and pepper to taste. Serve the soup, and add the in cubes cut royale to the soup.  

Self-made pre-cooked noodles                                                                    Royale ("Eierstich")

The Royale ("Eierstich")

Note: "Eierstich" or royale is an egg custard baked in a water bath and then cut into little cubes. It is a very popular garnish for clear soups in Germany.

As you cook the royale in a water bath, you will need two pots, a big one and a small one that fits into the big one. You can also use a ceramic bowl (heat proof) for the smaller pot. Butter the smaller pot. Fill the big pot with water, but not too high, you do not want to accidentally drown the smaller pot/bowl. Bring it to a boil.
In a bowl, mix the eggs with the milk. Add salt, pepper and nutmeg. Fill the mixture into the smaller pot/bowl and cover with tin foil. Then place the smaller pot/bowl into the boiling water of the bigger pot. Make sure that no water gets into the smaller pot. Heat up the water and bring to a boil, then reduce the heat and let cook for 30 minutes. After that, take the smaller pot out of the water and let cool down.

The Dumplings and Noodles

Mix the eggs, the flour and the semolina. Add salt, pepper, nutmeg. Use half of the dough for the dumplings and half for the noodles. If the dough is too runny, add flour or semoline. The dough for the dumplings can be a little thicker.
You can prepare the noodles beforehand and just add to the soup in the end. Prepare a pot of boiling water, a bowl with cold water and an empty bowl. Use a whisk or spoon, dunk it into the dough and hold it over the pot with the boiling water. Move it up and downwards. The dough will drop into the water through the movement. If you want thicker or longer noodles, make the dough thicker by adding flour/semolina. For longer noodles, hold the spoon or whisk up higher. Cook the noodles for a few minutes, they will come up to the surface when they are done. Take them out of the boiling water and put them in the cold water for a couple of seconds, then drain the water. The noodles are no fully cooked and can be added last minute.

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