Jewish princess’ chicken soup

Method

1. For the matzo balls: break the matzos into small pieces, put them in a colander, soak them with water and leave to drain.

2. Heat the olive oil in a frying pan and fry the onion until brown.

3. Put the drained matzos, onion, eggs, matzo meal, chicken seasoning and salt and pepper to taste into a strong food processor and process until fully combined into a dough.

4. With wet hands, roll teaspoons of the mixture into balls.

5. Bring a large pan of salted water to the boil. Drop the balls into the water and simmer for 20 minutes, then drain.

6. At this stage, the matzo balls can be added to the hot chicken soup or left to cool until needed.

7. For the lockshen: bring a saucepan of salted water to the boil and cook the lockshen according to the directions on the packet, then drain.

8. At this stage, the drained lockshen can be added to the soup if ready to serve, or left to cool until needed.

9. For the chicken soup: put the chicken pieces into a very large cooking pot. Add the chopped vegetables and parsley, season well with salt and freshly ground black pepper and add enough cold water to cover. Stir in 1 tablespoon chicken-flavoured soup mix for every 600ml water.

10. Bring the soup to the boil, then reduce the heat to low, cover the saucepan and leave to simmer gently for at least 5 hours, or more. When tested with a fork, the chicken should be so soft that it should practically fall from the bone, and the soup should be a deep golden colour.

11. Strain the soup, removing all the meat and vegetables except for the carrots.

12. If using golden eggs, wash them and peel off the outer membrane. Add the golden eggs to the soup and bring it back to the boil. (You can also reheat the matzo balls in the soup at this time if you have made them in advance.)

13. Boil for 5 minutes to ensure the eggs are cooked through.

14. At this stage, the soup can be served, or refrigerated until needed. Before re-heating, remove any fat that has risen to the surface.

15. To serve, put a portion of cooled lockshen in each soup bowl and pour over the hot soup, which will re-heat the lockshen. Ensure that each bowl also receives a few matzo balls.