Double-boiled Ginseng Chicken Soup

Finally found some time after so long to double-boil some herbal soup for our dinner on a weekend night.  Double-boiling soup is not difficult task, it is the time that you need set aside to be able to get a pot of nice and rich tasting double-boiled soup.  At least 2.5 to 3 hours of dedication and you will be rewarded :)

This time I bought one pre-packed Chinese herbal mix from the supermarket, grabbed a whole chicken thigh and off I went to make the soup. The good thing about double-boiling soup is that meat added will be soft and tender tasting still, even after hours of cooking. We wiped off the chicken thigh meat and soup in no time!

Double-boiled Ginseng Chicken Soup
300g to 350g whole chicken thigh
1.5l of water
Ginseng roots 人参
Honey dates 蜜枣
Red dates, pitted (optional) 红枣
Lotus seeds 湘莲
Liquorice 甘草
Indian bread 茯苓
Wolfberry 枸杞
Chuanxiong rhizome 川芎
Chinese angelica root 当归

1. Fill a big aluminium pot with enough water and bring to a rolling boil.
2. While waiting for the big pot of water to boil, remove fats and blood from chicken thigh. Snip off some chicken skins with underlying fats. Just leave some skin on. Rinse and clean meat and set in a dish. Pour hot water over chicken thigh to remove scums and excess oil.
3. Rinse all herbs.
4. Put 1.5l of water to boil in water boiler.

5. When big pot of water has come to a rolling boil, place in ceramic pot. Use a tong and place scalded chicken thigh into ceramic pot, place in rinsed herbs and finally pour in boiled water, place on ceramic pot lid and then main pot lid.
6. Bring big pot water to boil before turning down fire and let soup be at a gentle simmer for 2.5 to 3 hours. Remove as much oil from soup as possible.
7. Add salt to taste and serve immediately.

Benefits of Ginseng chicken soup
Improves stamina, complexion as well as rejuvenate the body.

Double-boiled Pumpkin & Dried Oyster Soup 南瓜耗鼓炖汤

Work has been mad busy of late with so much more on my plate with the reorganisation and all. I had, several times almost chose the out option. Somehow life here is really taxing and stressful. Not a conducive country to live in. Life should not be just about work ya? I tend to think lots more about life nowadays. And so people says one gets wiser when older? Hahaha!

Soup heals the soul, doesn't it? Well, at least for me. With this period of stressful moments in office, I try to make it up to our bodies and health by making more soups. No other food comforts me as much as soups do! Easy to cook, yummy to consume. Slurp!

Double-boiled Pumpkin & Dried Oyster Soup
Recipe by Eric Teo of Eric Teo's Simply Soup Book

200g pumpkin, trimmed and cut into cubes
8 pcs dried oysters, soaked to remove sand
8 pcs red dates, pitted
1/2 chicken, skinned and cut into 8 pcs (I used a pc of boneless chicken breast meat instead)
1.5l water
salt

1. Rinse and peel pumpkin. Remove core from pumpkin and cut into cubes.
2. Scald skinned chicken in boiling water and put into a soup pot.

3. Put all ingredients into soup pot and add in water.

4. Steam for 2 hours. Season with salt.

I am submitting this post to Cook-Your-Books #21 hosted by Joyce of Kitchen Flavours

Simple Lean Pork Soup with Huai Shan and Qi Zi

A simple and healthy soup recipe I came across in Chef Eric Teo's soup recipe book.  I used the double boiling method for this using my thermal pot and got 2 yummy pot of healthy soup for dinner. Quantities of ingredients were kinda halved to cater to 2 pax.

According to Chef Eric's recipe, this soup is supposed to cure chronic eye problems caused by asthemia, like blurry vision and for eyes that get tired easily.

Simple Lean Pork Soup with Huai Shan and Qi Zi
Recipe By Chef Eric Teo - Simply Soup recipe book (汤滋味)

50g huai shan (I used 10 pieces, 5 in each deep stew pot)
20g qi zi (2 tbsp, 1 tbsp in each deep stew pot)
500g lean pork, rinsed and cut into pieces (I used 300g pork ribs instead)
2.5 litres water (I just filled my stew pot to the brim)
Salt
I added 2 dried figs

Note: My individual stew pot size is just enough for 1 pax.

1. Rinse huai shan and qi zi, set aside.
2. Add 2.5 litres of water and all ingredients in a soup pot. Boil over high heat for 15 minutes. Switch to medium heat and simmer for 30 minutes. Season with salt.

(I placed a steam rack in my thermal pot, placed in 2 of my stew pots. Blanch the washed pork ribs in a small pot of boiling water, rinsed briefly with water and divide the ribs into the 2 stew pots. Place in dried figs, huai shan and qi zi, top with boiling water to brim.

Pour boiling water into thermal pot, put on thermal pot lid and put on high heat for 15 minutes. Turn off heat and place thermal pot into thermal pot holder. When ready to drink, put pot back to heat up and season with salt. Serve.)

Bird's Nest Soup with Rock Sugar

After the bout of bad cough and flu, I learnt that loving myself is more important now than before. Need more nourishing stuff for myself! 

Bird's nest is considered as a tonic in TCM, and is good in relieving asthma and chronic cough, clears phglem and relieve fatigue. Ah, and of course bird's nest is known to maintain good complexion and enhance youthfulness! 

I used to consume bottled bird's nest but dislike the sweetness, so now I turned to double-boiling my own. More work for sure but I get more and better stuff out of the money paid.

Bird's Nest Soup with Rock Sugar

2-3 pieces bird's nest
10 slices of American ginseng [optional]
6 small red dates (pitted) [optional]
1 dried honey date [optional]
3 small size yellow rock sugar
1.5 to 2 rice bowl of lukewarm water

1. Soak bird's nest pieces in a bowl of water for about 1 hour till it softened.

2. Remove feathers and dirt from bird's nest using a tweezer.  Be careful not to grasp the bird nest too hard as the softened bird nest will break up.
3. Rinse well and drain.

4. Put cleaned bird's nest and all other ingredients into a small pot (good for double-boiling), and top with lukewarm water.
5. Put pot into a bigger pot of boiling water and double boil for about 1 hour to 1.5 hour (depending on thickness of bird nest).
6. Serve chilled or when cooled.

Consume them before meals to allow better absorption of its nutrients.