Ingredients non vegetarian 4 servings

• 1 whole chicken, about 4 pounds
  
• 1 tbsp salt
  
• 2 liters water
  
• 1 cup celery, chopped
  
• 1 tbsp butter
  
• 1 bay leaf
  
• 2 tbsp chopped parsley
  
• 1/2 tsp dried leaf thyme
  
• 2 cups okra (bhindi), sliced and boiled 10 minutes
  
• 1 tbsp filé powder
  
• 5 cups hot cooked rice

Directions

1. Cut up the chicken and boil in salted water until tender.
2. Remove chicken from pot. Pour broth into another container; return 6 cups of broth to the pot.
   
3. If you don't have 6 cups of broth, add canned broth or bouillon.
   
4. Remove chicken from bone and cut into bite-sized pieces.
   
5. In a skillet, saute celery in butter; add the bay leaf, parsley, and thyme and cook for 2 minutes longer.
   
6. Add add celery mixture and okra to the chicken broth; simmer 10 minutes.
   
7. Add the chicken and heat through.
   
8. Just before serving, add the filé powder.
   
9. Serve on hot cook rice in soup plates. Serves 6 to 8.

Note: If you don't live in US, it might be tough to find filé powder (dried sassafras leaves powder) which primarily works like a thickening agent. Just increase the quantity of Okra which has enough thickening power of itself.

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