• 1 fresh black silkie chicken, quartered
• 2-3 fresh lotus root sections, sliced
• 3 pieces of dried astragulus root
• 3 whole dried red dates, pitted
• 3 whole dried blue or black dates
• 5 pieces of dried Chinese yam
• 1 tablespoon of dried euryale or fox nut seeds
• 1 piece of dried tangerine peel
• 10 pieces of dried longans
• 4-5 pieces of dang quai
• 2 L of water (I usually use 3 L for a pot of family soup, but because I want it a little more condensed, I opted for 2 L)

1. You can pre-soak your tangerine peel (to soften) and dried Chinese yam (to wash off any sulphur usually used in the drying process)
2. Prepare the protein by quartering your chicken
3. Prepare 2 pots, one is the soup pot (add your 2 L of water) and one pot is for blanching the chicken
4. Once your blanching pot boils, drop in your chicken and boil on high for 5-7 minutes, allowing the foam, fat, and bones come to the surface
5. You can turn off your blanching heat and once your soup water boils, transfer the blanched chicken over and let that boil on high
6. Add in your sliced lotus root and dried ingredients
7. Cover and boil on high for 30 minutes
8. Reduce to a low boil for another 3 hours
9. Salt as needed

Snow Pears and Chen Pi (Tangerine Peels) for Coughs and Congestion