Now that I am up and feeling a little more energetic, I bought a black chicken from the wet market and made myself some pure home-made black chicken essence to nourish myself and my LO! This chicken essence is said to strengthen Mummy's body making her less lethargic. Nothing beats home-made at this point - I cannot bear the thought of downing those dozens of store bought chicken essence because of the preservatives!
This home-made chicken essence is easy to make and is so yummy. Just the use of a whole black chicken and some red dates, you are ready to make yourself this nourishing soup. Easy huh?
You may choose to use kampong chicken if you cannot get black chicken. Otherwise use black chicken as they are packed with more nutrients.
Home-made Chicken Essence
1 whole black chicken (You can ask the poultry seller to remove the chicken skin and chop into smaller parts for you)
4 big red dates, pitted and rinsed
1. Clean all chopped chicken parts, clean internal parts and wash off blood, scrap off transparent membrane from chicken skin with a knife. Clean and dry with kitchen towel. Using either a chopper or pestle, pound the meat and bone of the chicken parts to break up and loosen the meat and bone a little so that chicken essence can be "forced out" more easily.
2. Place half of the pounded chicken parts into your double boiler, place red dates on meat and top with remaining chicken parts.
Look at the liquid gold collected at the bottom after 3.5 hours of double-boiling.
The hours put in on double-boiling and I got half bowl of this pure sweet and yummy chicken essence with no salt added! Drank up within minutes. Worth it :)
3. Place into your double-boiler and let it do its job for at least 3 hours. Throughout the 3 hours, essence will drip down from the tiny openings into the bigger holder. Enjoy!