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Avgolemono is a very old dish that originated in Greece centuries ago, possibly from as far back as the time that lemons were taken there from Byzantium 1,000 years ago. The word literally means ‘egg lemon’ when translated from the Greek. It is eaten as a soup and used for flavouring other soups too. Avgolemono is also good as a sauce to be used with vegetables. The recipe requires rice, chicken stock and chicken meat besides lemon and eggs. Read on for the ingredients and method.

Ingredients for avgolemono

To prepare avgolemono for six, you will need 50 grams of rice, the juice of one freshly squeezed lemon, 3 beaten eggs (at room temperature), 1.5 litres of warm chicken stock, 50 grams of finely chopped cooked chicken meat as well as salt and pepper to taste. If you’d like to garnish the dish, you will also need about 2 tablespoons of chopped parsley.

Method

Allow for about 20 minutes of preparation time and 25 minutes of cooking time.

Place the rice in some salted water and bring it to the boil, allowing it to cook for 10 minutes or until it is soft. Drain the rice well and place it in a bowl. Set about mixing the lemon juice with the beaten eggs in a separate bowl. Add 150 ml of the warm chicken stock to the egg/lemon mixture but be sure to add only a little at a time as you beat the ingredients together using a whisk.

Let the rest of the stock come to a boil and then remove it from the stove. Mix the hot stock with the cooked rice and chicken. Season with salt and pepper and place the pot onto a low heat as you whisk in the egg mixture.

Stir the ingredients without pause until the soup has a creamy consistency and is thoroughly heated through. This should take about five minutes or so. Taste the avgolemono and season further with salt and pepper should you feel it necessary.

Garnish your traditional Greek egg and lemon soup with chopped parsley before savouring the age-old taste of the past.

Tags: cooking, food, recipes, soup