Thank goodness some supermarkets now have chicken stations. It used to be that the only chickens we could get in most supermarkets were the frozen ones. Now, we can buy assorted chicken parts (such as wings and drumsticks) fresh and ready to be cooked.

Another product in these stations is ground chicken (which was once a rare commodity).  Someone at the supermarket recently asked me what you can do with it. Well, you can substitute ground chicken in any recipe that calls for ground pork.

I used to make misua with bola-bola using ground pork; now I use ground chicken. It’s leaner and presumably better for the health. Moreover, ground chicken has a sticky texture, so it binds well, which makes it easier to shape it into meatballs.

You can also use ground chicken for making lumpiang Shanghai, arroz à la Cubana and menudo.

Here’s my recipe for misua soup with chicken balls. Now that the rainy season is here, it’s comforting to have this hot soup on a chilly evening.

For the chicken balls:

½  k ground chicken

1  medium carrot, peeled and finely diced

½  medium onion, finely diced

1  egg

1  tbsp flour

Salt and pepper

For the misua soup:

12  c water

Chicken balls (prepared as below)

3  cubes chicken broth

1  medium carrot, cut into cubes

200  grams misua noodles

1  tbsp patis (fish sauce)

½  c chopped spring onions

Prepare the chicken balls:

In a mixing bowl, combine ground chicken, the finely diced carrots, onions, egg and flour. Season with salt and pepper. Shape into balls around one inch in diameter. Set aside.

Cook the misua soup:

In a stockpot or deep casserole, bring the 12 cups water to a boil. Add the prepared chicken balls. Lower heat and simmer the chicken balls for 10-12 minutes or until almost fully cooked. Add the chicken broth cubes, carrots and misua. Season with patis. Let simmer around 2-3 minutes or until misua noodles are just slightly tender (do not overcook). Stir in chopped spring onions and heat through. Serve hot.

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Cook’s tips:

Shape the chicken balls into equal sizes so that they all cook evenly at the same time.

Misua noodles are also known as Chinese somen and are available in the noodles section of supermarkets.

Ground chicken is sold in the chicken stations of large supermarkets.