党参药材鸡汤

Another cold winter day, another day for soup =)

I was surfing the web for new recipes when I chanced upon "Tong Sum Chinese Herbal Soup" from Little Corner of Mine. Thank you so much for sharing your recipe! I love chicken soup, and I love 党参. Plus, I am able to use most of the chinese herbs I have in the pantry =)

党参 and wolfberries, when soak in warm water for a couple of hours, yields a drink with mild herbal sweetness. Hence, whenever hubby dear needs to stay up late into the night to do his work/study, I will make a flask of it for him to bring to school. It is best consumed a few hours later ... the drink is sweet, and especially warming on a cold winter day in school. If you need to work late into the night, feel tired easily, have a lack of appetite ... you can give it a try.

But for now, I am happy to have chicken soup for dinner tonight!

淮山 4 sticks

北芪 2, cut into halves

党参 4 sticks, cut into 1" length

Wolfberries 1 tbsp

Red Dates 10 pcs

Dried Logan 5-6 pcs

Water 1 litre

Chicken Thighs 4 pcs

• Pour 1 litre of water into a pot.
• Put the chinese herbs, except 北芪 and 淮山, into the pot of water.
• Soak these chinese herbs for half an hour to an hour.
• Remove skin from the chicken thighs.
• Wash and clean the chicken thighs.
• Blanch the chicken thighs in boiling water.
• Rinse the blanched chicken thighs in cold water.
• After an hour, add the blanched chicken thighs, 淮山，北芪 to the pot with the other chinese herbs in it.
• Bring the water to a boil.
• Lower heat and simmer for 2 to 2.5 hours.
• Add salt to taste before serving, if necessary.

The original simmering time is 4 hours, with no soaking of chinese herbs required. I do not have a slow-cooker, and I need to pick the kids up from school and can't leave the pot of soup on the stove cooking while I am out. Hence, I took a short cut ... I soaked the chinese herbs (all except 北芪 and 淮山 ) in water for almost an hour, before cooking it. Instead of 4 hours, I am going to simmer the soup for 2.5 hours.

Hmmmm ... the pot of chicken soup is simmering away as I am writing ... and the entire apartment is filled with the aroma of herbal soup .... I can't wait for dinner!