Chinese Style Luxurious Chicken Soup Recipe

Today's feature is a 'slow-fire' soup i.e. 老化汤 which is almost a staple in most Cantonese households and although we're not Cantonese, slow-fire soups are one of my absolute favourite comfort foods.  The Chinese believe that a good slow-fire soup acts like a tonic almost and different combinations of ingredients will render different health benefits.  My feature today is simple - free-range chicken boiled with some Chinese Yunnan Ham (云南火腿), dried scallops and some honey dates.  For soups like these, it is quite important to use good quality chicken, most free-range chicken should do it.  I don't use silky chicken in my cooking mostly as silky (black) chicken has heat-inducing properties that are not suitable for my family members so do take note of that.  Making soup is very straightforward, just get your ingredients right, be patient as you will have to simmer this for at least 5 hours (a pressure cooker does not result in similar flavours in my opinion) and never ever add more water once the soup starts boiling.  That's it.

For most Chinese people, Chinese New Year is probably the time when you get (or rather have to) see certain relatives individuals who may not be your favourite people in the world.  Seriously, for some people - seeing them once a year is way , extremely astoundingly more than enough as rudeness is really unacceptable to me.  I really should not be 'complaining' during Chinese New Year but I guess I'm only human :O and I do have my limits.  I think that should be another New Year resolution of mine - to not let unimportant people affect my moods, easy to say - definitely hard to execute at least for a sensitive soul like me but I will definitely give it a try for my own sanity since I don't think some people will ever change (this is proven year after year). This soup will be great for those days when you feel like you need some 'cooling down' as well - nourishing, healthy and delicious. 

Serves 4-6

Ingredients:

1 large free-range chicken, cleaned and skinned

12 dried scallops, rinsed quickly

4 inch Chinese Yunnan Ham (substitute with Virginia ham if needed)

2 honey dates, seeds removed

8 cups of water

Salt (if needed)

Green onions/ cilantro (optional)

Method:

Firstly, prepare a pot of boiling water to blanch the chicken quickly.  This step is to remove as much impurities as possible.  Once the surface turns whitish, remove from water and set aside.  Discard water.

Prepare a soup pot with the water.  Add in all the ingredients above.  Bring to a boil.  Turn heat to low and allow to simmer covered for at least 5 hours.  Do a taste test and add salt if needed but with such good quality ingredients above, salt is usually not needed as it should be flavourful enough after so long.

Serve hot.

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