Ingredients

• 1 big chicken (4 lbs ideal)
• 1 onion, chopped
• 2 red bell peppers, chopped or julienned
• 2 jalapenos, sliced
• 2 roma tomatoes, sliced
• 2 garlic cloves, minced
• 1 teaspoon oregano
• 1 bay leaf
• cayenne pepper
• 2 cups chicken broth
• 2 cups water
• 1 cup sour cream or 1 cup Mexican crema
• salt
• fresh ground black pepper
• 1/2 cup chopped fresh cilantro

Instructions

1. Place whole chicken in the bottom of a large stewpot. Pour in chicken broth and water.

2. Add the sour cream, chopped onion, peppers, jalapenos, tomatoes, garlic, and your spices. Don't worry about the sour cream curdling--it will smooth out in the last cooking step.

3. Cover and simmer on low for 1 hour.

4. Lift the lid, turn the chicken over, and recover. Simmer for another 30 minutes.

5. Remove chicken from simmering stock (crema). Allow to cool.

6. In the meantime, turn up the heat under the crema to high. When it's boiling you may skim off the fat/ super spicy oils.

7. Cut the cooled chicken into serving pieces. Make sure to pull little bits from the bones as well. Put chicken pieces back into the pot with the hot crema.

8. Stir in a large handful of chopped cilantro.

9. Serve this beautifully simple soup with Spanish rice and a side of beans.