I'm (Coco) Loco for Chicken Soup

------Created for RSC #9. I'm a sucker for the chicken soup with coconut milk that I order in Asian restaurants. Interestingly enough, I've never thought to make it at home. Thanks to tigerduck's excellent choice of ingredients for the contest (no, I am NOT sucking up), I now have the chance to play around and make my own version of this yummy soup. ------

• Ready In: 1 hr 35 mins
• Serves: 16

Ingredients

• 1  whole chicken, cleaned both inside and out
• 1  large  white onion, peeled but left whole
• 3  carrots, peeled
• 2  stalks celery, leaves included
• 1⁄3 cup fresh coriander, optional but essential for an authentic taste (cilantro)
• 8  cups water
•  salt, to taste
•  fresh ground black pepper, to taste
• 10  cherry tomatoes, halved
• 6  ounces bean sprouts, roughly four handfuls
• 2  teaspoons soy sauce
• 1  tablespoon brown sugar
• 1 (10 ounce) can coconut milk
•  cayenne pepper, to taste
•  salt, to taste
•  fresh ground black pepper, to taste
• 8  hard-boiled eggs, peeled and halved, for garnish
•  coriander sprig, for garnish

Directions

1. First you need to make your soup base. Take your whole chicken and place it in a pot with 8 cups of cold water. Your chicken can have the skin on it, but we prefer our chickens naked, it makes the soup less fatty and also there is considerable less scum to skim as the soup boils.
2. Add the whole white onion, carrots, celery stalks and coriander.
3. Add salt and pepper and bring the pot to a boil. Skim as necesssary.
4. Once the pot has come to a rolling boil turn the heat down and let the soup base cook at a light bubble for 60-75 minutes.
5. Removed the chicken from the soup, and strain the stock into another soup pot. As for the vegetables left behind, either eat them, add them to a veggie pie or meatloaf, or, heaven forfend, throw them away.
6. If you left the skin on the chicken, now's the time to take it off (and this you can throw away, I don't have any problems with that). If you first skinned your chicken before cooking it, do not read this step.
7. Shred the chicken meat into 1 inch pieces and add it to the strained stock.
8. Bring the soup to a boil.
9. Add the 20 cherry tomato halves, bean sprouts, soy sauce, brown sugar and coconut milk.
10. Taste for flavor and then add more salt and pepper if necessary. Add the cayenne pepper to taste, but don't be afraid to leave it out if you aren't a fan of spicy soups.
11. Let cook for a further 7 minutes, that's it really, you don't want the tomatoes and bean sprouts to boil to death in there.
12. Serve the soup in a deep bowl with one half of a hard boiled egg and some coriander for garnish.