I have been experimenting with Chinese herbs lately. In the past I used to buy pre-packed herbal mixes to brew the soups. I have since stocked up different types of herbs and mix and match the ingredients together. It's so much more economical but do be careful on excessive use of certain herbs as they may be too "warm" or "cooling" to some bodies.
This herbal chicken soup is sweet and nourishing but a bit towards the heaty nature because of the ingredient - dong guai, though I used it sparingly.
The amounts of herbs used in this soup are only my estimates, in fact most of my cooking are based on estimations and I don't follow recipes strictly.
Ingredients
1 whole chicken, cut into 4 pieces.
1.2 litre water
3 pieces dong guai
12-15 pieces yuk chok
5-7 pieces wai san
5-6 sticks dong sum
5-6 red dates, stoned
A handful kei chi/wolfberries
Salt to taste
Method
Blanch chicken pieces in a pot of boiling water for about 3 minutes to get rid of excess fats and scums.
Rinse all herbs to remove dirt. Set aside.
Place all ingredients except salt in a pot, herbs below and chicken on top. Add hot water and boil the soup for 10 minutes and simmer, covered for at least 1.5 hours. You may also slow cook or double boil the soup but the cooking time will differ.
Skim off oil on the surface of soup. Add salt to taste. Serve immediately.
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