Signature Chicken Soup
I was in LA for a Shabbaton, and the women there are amazing. They've created an incredible community cookbook to support the Israel trips through their local organization, JWI, and JWRP.
The cookbook is truly a community endeavor, and to that end, they've solicited the input of the various women that have taught Torah and inspired them to grace the book. I was quite touched when, at the end of the Shabbaton, they asked me to participate in the cookbook and share some parenting tips for the holidays. And then, they said, I could also submit a recipe.
Here's an excerpt from my submission:
Become known for one dish.This is something I learned when my first child left home. I always associated my great-grandmother by her honey cookies, but couldn’t for the life of me figure out what my signature dish was. Then my son called home and said, “I miss your chicken soup.” My chicken soup? It wasn’t anything special. Or so I thought. Ask your kids what is the thing you make that they love the most, and become awesome at it. Make it for every holiday. Write the recipe down so your kids have it. That will become your signature dish that will be anticipated and treasured.
And then for my recipe, I submitted this:
Ruchi’s Signature Chicken Soup
Ps I don’t use amounts
I dedicate this recipe to my awesome son Moshe, who was the first one to tell me it was my Signature Dish. xoxo
- Put a lot of chicken in a big pot. I use legs and thighs because they give the best flavor. I put them in a net bag for easy removal (plus, there’s always one kid who likes the chicken afterward).
- Add a lot of vegetables: carrots, onion, celery - cut into small pieces so it doesn’t get stuck in your teeth. Squash is good. So’s a sweet potato, but it’ll take up a lot of room in the pot.
- Now add seasonings. Like maybe 2 tablespoons of salt. Lots of garlic powder. A shake or two of dill, or fresh dill. I like a little rosemary, and maybe you will too.
- Fill to the top with water. Cook for a lot of hours on low.
- Eat.
The truth is when anyone asks me to submit a recipe I freeze. Because I don't use recipes, and somehow that seems inadequate. So I submitted this recipe kind of tongue-in-cheek, but really it was a way of me breaking through my feelings of inadequacy, to emerge victorious and celebrate the very me-ness of it. Kind of like: this is me, this is OK, I don't have to pretend to be anyone I'm not, I don't have to be ashamed, I can joke and even laugh about the me-ness of me.
As Dr. Seuss said, "Today you are you, that is truer than true, there is no one alive who is youer than you!"
The Torah teaches that each of us has our own unique soul - so why do we spend so much time trying to be the same as everyone else? The older I get, the more I am learning to love myself with my uniqueness. So yeah, figure out your "signature dish" but even more fundamentally, figure out your signature YOU - and celebrate what only you, uniquely, can bring to the universe.
Shabbat Shalom,
Ruchi Koval
