1 - This chicken soup uses a whole chicken. For the best chicken soup you want skin and the bones, not just chicken fillets as you get all of the goodness from the bones of the chicken but the flavours from the skin.

2- This soup uses easy to find ingredients (onion, carrot, celery) but it also uses a powerhouse of ingredients that will help you with colds and flu like garlic, ginger, chilli and turmeric.

3 - This is a robustly flavoured chicken soup with a nice warmth to it from the ginger and chilli - when you've got a cold, you can't taste as much but this one is full of flavour!

4 - I avoid dairy when I have a cold so we only use oil in this.

5 - You can use noodles but you can also add rice or have it as is!

6 - The chicken schmaltz (fat in the soup) is supposed to be very good for you. However I also give a tip on how to skim the soup if you don't want it.

7 - Although you use a whole chicken, there will be plenty of chicken leftover which you can use in sandwiches or pasta dishes (I like eating it with steamed rice and a Hainan chicken rice ginger and shallot condiment). You can also freeze the chicken for use at a later time. It will be perfectly poached and delicious!

8 - This is made in a pressure cooker but can also be made on the stovetop, it just takes longer as a pressure cooker cooks in a quarter of the time.

9 - I use an Asian chicken stock powder by Knorr or Lee Kum Kee which I love because it has so much flavour. I call it my secret flavour weapon (not spon!)

10 - This makes a lot of chicken soup (2 litres or over half a gallon!). You can freeze it in portions where it will keep for up to 3 months so you'll have this tonic ready during winter!

I made a big batch of this when I recently got home from overseas. It was so cold on the day that I arrived back and I really wanted to make this. I had almost everything including the chicken in the freezer but I was just missing the ginger. The ginger is really crucial to the flavour and the health giving properties of this soup so I didn't want to start making it without it and that delayed the making of the soup. Mr NQN said that I could have just asked him to get some while I was away.

Dear Reader I have this weird thing when I travel. I sometimes put off purchases until after I get back. In this case it was a purchase for a new Swiss ball and the ginger. "I didn't want to buy anything in case something happens to me and you end up with a Swiss ball that is not your size or ginger that you won't use. You don't return anything," I explained to Mr NQN. "What do you mean?" he said. "Like in case I die!" I said. I pictured him drowning under the weight of the excess of ginger or packages. I know it doesn't really make sense but I always put off purchases until I know that I can use them. It usually works but we could have definitely done with the ginger though!

So tell me Dear Reader, do you ever put off purchases if you're going overseas in case you don't make it back? What is your best cure for a cold or flu?

Easy Homemade Chicken Noodle Soup

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An Original Recipe by Lorraine Elliott

Preparation time: 15 minutes

Cooking time: 45 minutes -2.5 hours (depending on method)

• 2 tablespoons oil
• 1 large or 2 small white or brown medium onion, peeled and sliced
• 80g/2.8ozs fresh ginger, peeled and sliced
• 2 medium carrots, cut into thick rounds
• 2 full ribs celery, sliced
• 8 cloves garlic, peeled and roughly chopped
• 2 small chillies, sliced
• 1 teaspoon ground turmeric
• 1 chicken (mine was a 1.2kg/2.7lb chicken)
• 2 litres/0.53 gallon chicken stock
• 100g/3.5ozs dried egg noodles
• 2 tablespoons green onions or chives to sprinkle on top
• Salt and pepper to taste

Step 1 Pressure Cooker Method: Set your pressure cooker or instant pot to sauté for 15 minutes. Add the oil and onion and sauté for 5-7 minutes or until the onion is softened. Then add the ginger, carrots, celery, garlic, chilli and turmeric and sauté for 5 minutes. Place the chicken breast side down in the pressure cooker pot and pour the chicken stock over pushing down the chicken so that it submerges as much as possible. Set to cook athigh for 25 minutes.

Step 1 Traditional Stovetop Method: Place a large stock pot (one big enough to fit your chicken and the stock) on to medium heat. Add the oil, onion and sauté for 5-7 minutes or until the onion is softened. Then add the ginger, carrots, celery, garlic, chilli and turmeric and sauté for 5 minutes. Place the chicken breast side down in the pot and pour the chicken stock over pushing down the chicken so that it submerges as much as possible. Place the lid on and allow to simmer for 2 hours. It will be done when the chicken falls off the bone. Taste the soup for seasoning and add salt and pepper to taste.

Step 2 - At this point you can remove the chicken and vegetables and place these in one container and then decant the soup into another container and refrigerate or freeze so that the fat rises to the top so that it is easy to skim off. Then take some chicken and shred it with two forks. Boil the noodles as per the directions taking off a couple of minutes so that they don't get soggy in the broth. I always keep any extra noodles in a separate container so they don't get soggy (can you tell I hate soggy pasta haha). Serve hot with some green onion.

Notes: Cooking time will depend on the size of your chicken. Please adjust accordingly. This soup can be frozen in portions for up to 3 months.