The Rice soaks up the soup as leftovers, which actually is quite delicious. But it isn't really a soup at that point, but savory rice. I just want to warn you.
So if you don't need to rely on the crock pot the whole time, you can cook the rice separately in a pan or rice cooker and add it for serving time. Then store the rice separately for leftovers to keep the "soup vibe" the next day for lunch! Because trust me, you will want to eat it again.
Slow Cooker Ginger and Rice Chicken Soup
Ingredients:
2 teaspoons of sugar
1 pound of boneless skinless chicken thighs
1 tablespoon of olive oil
3 cups of chicken stock
1 cup of water
3 small shallots halved
1-inch piece of ginger, peeled and cut into 3 pieces
3 Thai or Serrano chilis, one finely chopped and exceeded the rest roughly chopped or sliced for garnish
4 garlic cloves, peeled
3/4 cups of jasmine rice
1 cup of water
1 tablespoon of lime juice
1 tablespoon of fish sauce
salt to taste
two scallions chopped, for garnish
3 tablespoons of crushed/roughly chopped roasted peanuts for garnish
Directions:
In a large pot or sauté pan brown the chicken in the olive oil, searing the chicken brown on all sides. Transfer to a plate. Lower the heat slightly and add the garlic cloves, the shallots, the pepper, the ginger pieces and brown, scraping the bottom of the pan. When things are browned add the 3 cups of chicken broth and 1 cup of water, and scrape up everything, basically deglazing the pan.
Pour everything into the crockpot add the chicken into the crockpot and cook for eight hours on low. The last two hours of cooking, take out the chicken thighs and shred the chicken meat and transfer it back into the soup. Pull ou the ginger pieces if they are still large, and smash the shallots and garlic with a spoon in the soup (or pull them out as well by using a strainer). Add the rice and one cup of water. Also, add the fish sauce and the lime juice. Adjust seasoning with salt and pepper. Serve soup in large soup bowls with chilies and scallions and crushed nuts on the side for people to garnish as they wish.
Slurp, Slurp!
