Chicken and sweetcorn soup recipe: Indonesian style

Chicken and sweetcorn soup is chicken broth or stock thickened with sweetcorn and egg drop. It is delicately flavoured with garlic, ginger and spring onions.

This Indonesian style sweetcorn chicken soup I’m sharing with you here is easy and quick to make. It doesn’t use a lot of spices, and it’s pretty straightforward. And you can actually taste the real chicken and sweetcorn in it. 

I learn the recipe from my mom, but I’ve tweaked (as always ?) the ingredients and the methods so that it will be easier for me to make the soup here in the UK. 

I often make the soup on cold days in winter or even in spring and fall/ autumn. And I always make this soup if anyone in my household needs to fight colds. 

Because not only this sweet corn and chicken soup keeps you warm as you enjoy it, but it is also believed to have anti-inflammatory effects that can ease the cold symptoms. 

And the chicken and sweetcorn soup have low calories that it won’t make you feel guilty when you have it in large portions. 

How to serve sweetcorn and chicken soup

When I was young, my mom used to make this sweetcorn and chicken soup for breakfast. We used to have it with garlic bread or a piece of toast. 

But often we had it on its own as a starter/ appetizer or as a snack between mealtimes. 

As a snack, you can pair the soup together with either Indonesian sweetcorn fritters/ perkedel jagung or mung bean fritters/ perkedel kacang Hijau. 

You can enjoy your soup on its own, or with a dash of your favourite chilli sauce. The soup is lovely to have with fresh bread rolls or a simple buttered toast for a light lunch. Or, you can serve the soup as a starter as well. It’s your choice ?.

The main ingredients for chicken and sweetcorn soup

This heart-warmingly delicious sweet corn chicken soup only requires simple items. And you don’t need many ingredients to make it. 

Apart from the chicken, sweetcorn and the spring onions/ scallions, all other items are pretty much ordinary things you always have in your kitchen.

Chicken

Ideally, you use chicken with bone and make proper chicken stock in a few hours to get the flavor and goodness of the poultry. 

However, my recipe uses boneless chicken, and it shortcuts the cooking time. Yet, you still get the nice chicken flavour just like any other chicken stock/ broth.

Sweetcorn

Ideally, you use kernels of fresh sweetcorn cobs. But you can also use the frozen sweetcorn kernels. I won’t recommend you to use the tinned sweetcorn though, because they are pre-cooked corn.

The raw sweetcorn can help thicken the soup as well. You can mash half of the kernels until they release their juices. The corn juice will be the natural soup thickening ingredient. 

Ginger and garlic

Ginger and garlic are the main ingredients for flavouring. 

I used the ready minced ginger-garlic. But you can make your own minced/ pounded ginger and garlic.

Pepper

Traditionally, this soup uses white pepper. But I use ground black pepper more often than not. 

Spring onions/ scallions

I love spring onions/ scallions in the soup. It just adds a nice flavour to the sweetcorn chicken soup. 

Eggs

You only need two lightly-beaten eggs for this recipe. The eggs and the sweetcorn juice will help thicken the soup. 

How to make chicken and sweetcorn soup

Make the chicken soup

Pre-boil the chicken in ½ liter of hot boiling water and drain the water. Then shred the poultry into slivers. 

Fry the ginger garlic paste and pepper in a little oil until it gives aroma. Then add in the chicken pieces, salt and 1 ½ liter of hot boiling water. Let it cook and simmer to make your broth.

Although this recipe calls for boneless chicken, feel free to use chicken with bones if that’s what you have at home. 

The only difference is that you may have to pre-boil a little longer. Because it takes more time for the chicken with bones to become fully cooked. But the good thing is your soup will taste richer as the bones give more flavour. 

Add in the rest of the ingredients

Mash half the sweetcorn kernels, and add all the sweetcorn into the chicken stock together with the shredded chicken.

After leaving it to cook further for about 5 minutes, you can add the beaten eggs as you keep stirring the soup. The egg drop will create ribbons in the soup.

Then you put the sliced spring onions in. 

Lastly, you add the cornflour mixed with four tablespoons of water in the soup as you stir the soup. Keep mixing for a while until everything is nicely mixed. And let it cook further for a few minutes when the soup starts reboiling.

Related posts

I hope you find this chicken and sweet corn soup recipe intriguing and that you’re thinking to try making it now. If so, let me know how you think of the soup. I really appreciate it if you could leave your views in the comment box below. And feel free to share the post and pin it in your Pinterest.

Before you go, don’t forget to check out my other Indonesian food recipes that you may like.

• The best Indonesian sweet soy chicken – Ayam Kecap. 
• Lontong Sayur Betawi: hard-boiled rice with vegetable curry.
• Mie Goreng: Indonesian stir-fried noodles. 
• Indonesian fried-chicken: Ayam Goreng Bumbu.
• Soto Ayam: Indonesian clear chicken soup.
• Ayam Suwir Bumbu Bali – Balinese spicy shredded chicken.
• Sate Ayam – Indonesian chicken satay.
• Ayam Penyet – crushed chicken in chillies.

Thank you and all the best.

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5 from 8 votes

Chicken and sweet corn soup

This chicken and sweet corn soup is very easy to make and doesn't need a lot of ingredients. It's delicious and nutritious. A perfect choice for a starter or even a light lunch menu.

Author: Devy Dar

Prep Time15 minutes mins

Cook Time50 minutes mins

Total Time1 hour hr 5 minutes mins

Course: Lunch

Cuisine: Indonesian

Servings: 8

Equipment

• Cooking pan
• Wooden spoon
• Chopping board
• Kitchen knife

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Cook ModeKeep your screen on

Ingredients

US Customary – Metric

• ▢ 2 pieces boneless chicken breast or boneless chicken thigh. Cut in small pieces.
• ▢ 1 ½ cup sweet corn kernels. From 2 fresh sweet corn cobs. Mash half of the kernels.
• ▢ 2 eggs lightly beaten.
• ▢ 8 cups water hot boiling from the kettle.
• ▢ 1 ½ teaspoon salt.
• ▢ 1 teaspoon ground black pepper.
• ▢ ½ inch ginger, minced.
• ▢ 3 cloves of garlic, minced.
• ▢ 1 tablespoon cooking oil.
• ▢ 3 spring onions/ scallions finely sliced.
• ▢ 4 tablespoons cornflour/ cornstarch mixed with 4 tablespoons of cold water.

Instructions

• Clean the chicken and cut in chunks. Boil them in ½ litre of hot boiling water (from the kettle) until the poultry is just cooked through. Drain the water, and shred the chicken using two forks or hands. Set aside.
• And fry the ginger garlic and pepper in a cooking pan until it’s fragrant. 
• Add the chicken pieces and salt in the spices. Then put 1 ½ litre of hot boiling water in and leave it to cook for about 20 minutes. If you use chicken with bones, you can include the bones in. Just don’t forget to take them out before serving. 
• Then add the sweet corn in. Stir well and continue to cook with the lid on until the sweetcorn is almost fully cooked for about 5 minutes.
• Next, add in the spring onion/ scallions slices. And the beaten eggs as you stir the soup carefully. You want to create a membrane-like pattern of the eggs in your soup.
• Put the lid on and leave it to cook and simmer for another 5-10 minutes.
• Mix 4 tablespoons of cornflour/ cornstarch with 4 tablespoons of cold water. Pour it into the soup at the same time you stir the soup gently. You can see that your soup is getting more thickened now.
• After cooking further for a minute or two, your chicken and sweet corn soup are ready.

Notes

• If you don’t have boneless chicken, you can always use chicken with bone. For this recipe, half of a baby chicken should be enough. But don’t skip boiling the chicken and draining the water first before you start cooking the poultry for the actual soup. The reason is that you want to get rid of the dirt and smell of the chicken. Also, your soup will look nicely clear and not muddy. 
• Ideally, you use fresh sweet corn and remove the kernels from the cobs. However, you can use frozen ones as well. Just make sure they’re raw frozen sweetcorn kernels, not cooked kernels. And please don’t use tinned sweetcorn kernels, because they are cooked. You can mash half of the corn until they release their juice to add more flavour. But it’s okay even if you don’t do it. Your soup will still be yummy ?.
• If you happen to put too much water and the soup is runnier than how you want it to be, you can always fix it by adding more cornflour/ cornstarch. Just mix a teaspoon of the starch with a teaspoon of cold water. Then pour it in the soup as you stir the soup. 

Nutrition

Serving: 1g | Calories: 165kcal | Carbohydrates: 11g | Protein: 18g | Fat: 6g | Saturated Fat: 1g | Polyunsaturated Fat: 4g | Cholesterol: 95mg | Sodium: 511mg | Fiber: 1g | Sugar: 2g

Disclaimer

Nutritional info in this recipe is only estimate using online calculator. You should refer to it as a guide only. Please verify with your own data if you seek an accurate info.