Soy Sauce Chicken Wings and Feet (for Chinese Confinement)

Soy Sauce Chicken Wings and Feet (for Chinese Confinement)

Soy Sauce Chicken Wings and Feet (for Chinese Confinement)

Soup Name:

Soy Sauce Chicken Wings and Feet (for Chinese Confinement)

Chinese Name: 醬油雞腳 (jiàng yóu jī jiǎo)

 

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This is a very common Canton (Chinese-styled) dish. The soy sauce base can be used with pork, chicken (various parts), duck (wings are best), pigeon and any other meats with bones as best. The trick to this dish is that it must be simmered for some time (or use a pressure cooker) to let both the sauce seep deep into the meat and enable the meet to be almost falling off the bone.

Why this particular dish is called out for Chinese confinement is that the chicken feet provides a healthy amount of collagen – and adding warming ingredients such as ginger, star anise and cinnamon help keep the body warm and heated throughout this period. My mom actually used to keep the sauce after she made it in a glass jar in the fridge, to be used again the next time around. The more it’s used, the tastier it gets. You can simply skim off the accumulated fat once it’s cooled and add more soy sauce if it’s been reduced too far. A delicious, easy-to-make, easy-to-keep Chinese confinement dish for any postpartum mother.

What’s involved?

Prep time: 15 mins

Cook time: 45 mins

Total time: 60 mins

Serves: 4

Ingredients
  • 20 fresh (or frozen) chicken feet, nails cut off
  • 10 fresh chicken wings
  • 3/4 cup of soy sauce
  • 4 cups of boiling (or hot) water
  • 3 tablespoons of brown sugar
  • 1 cinnamon stick
  • 2 pieces of star anise
  • 2 cloves of garlic, crushed
  • 1 inch piece of fresh ginger, sliced and peeled
  • 1 scallion, diced (optional)
  • White pepper (optional and recommended for Chinese Confinement)
Cooking Instructions
  1. Cut off the nails of the chicken feet
  2. In a pot of boiling water, blanch the chicken feet and chicken wings for 3 minutes (to flush out the oil in the chicken feet)
  3. In a fresh pot, add all the ingredients together and let simmer for 45 minutes (or longer if you want it softer)
  4. Top with fresh scallions as needed
  5. Serve and enjoy!

A selection of confinement Chinese Soups

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Soup Name: Chicken Feet and Wintermelon Soup

Traditional Chinese Name:  冬瓜雞腳湯 (dōng guā jī jiǎo tāng)

Introduction:
The feet of the chicken are one of the Chinese’s most interesting “unwanted” parts of the chicken (after the bottom parts). It’s so versatile that the Chinese use chicken feet in soups, stews, dim sum and other dishes. I remember back in the days when I was a young lad that my parents would go to the Western super markets and get chicken feet by the bags for a whole dollar. It’s definitely not as cheap anymore because of the influx of demanding chicken feet eaters, but still an affordable, tasty and collagen packed ingredient. This wintermelon soup is simple to make and if you’re a single gal (or guy) you can make it in a one person pot. My husband really liked this soup and gobbled all the feet. Thanks for the clean up job, sweetie!

 

Amount serves: 5-6 large soup bowls (around 300 mL each)

What Ingredients are required?

10 fresh (or frozen) chicken feet
3 fresh corn, quartered
1 large slice of wintermelon, sliced with skin on
70g fresh gingo biloba
70g dried lotus seeds
1 slice of ginger
2 L of water

How do I prepare it?

  1. Soak the gingo biloba and lotus seed in warm water for 10 minutes
  2. Rinse and cut off the nails on your chicken feet
  3. In a small pot of boiling water, blanch your chicken feet for 5 minutes
  4. Remove chicken feet from boiling water, strain and set aside
  5. Boil your soup water
  6. When the soup boils, throw all the ingredients together
  7. Boil on high (covered) for 30 minutes, reduce to a medium boil for another 30 minutes (you can continue to boil or use a thermal cooker to keep it hot, as some people love their chicken feet super soft)
  8. Serve and enjoy!

Any benefits?

  • This soup is excellent for cooling down the body and heat from hot summer days
  • Chicken feet is an excellent source of collagen and is low in fat

Any precautions?

  • Women in their first trimester of pregnancy should avoid as it is an extremely cooling soup and may cause contractions (you can add more ginger slices to “heat” up the soup)
  • Melon soups are best consumed within same day as keeping melon soups overnight or over an extended period will make the melons sour (and so will your soup!)

Similar soups:

Chicken and Veggies – Soup for Beginners

Soup Name:  Chicken and Veggies – Soup for Beginners

Traditional Chinese Name: 雞菜湯 (jī cài tāng)

Introduction:
We often hear that, although people enjoy drinking Chinese soups, they would never make it by themselves because it’s “too hard”.   Here is a super simple soup that takes the “scariness” out of chinese-soup making because it demonstrates how easy chinese-style soups can be.   The style is similar to how we make most chinese soups, but it contains no chinese-specific ingredients!  To make it more “chinese”, simply add chinese mushrooms to your veggie mix.

I recently made this soup for my toddler who, being so young, is definitely a beginner to soups.   She loved the bite-sized vegetables which were soft and easy to munch.  The clear broth was also good for her suspicious mind since she could clearly see everything she was eating.

What Ingredients are required?
Chicken – any chicken (whole, thighs, wings, feet, etc…)
Veggies – any veggies (carrots, celery, onions, potatoes, chinese mushrooms, etc…)

How do I prepare it?

  1. Boil 2 – 3 L of water
  2. Wash and chop all vegetables (bite-sized pieces are great for children who are more likely to eat the pieces which fit in their mouth)
  3. Put in the chicken
  4. Put in the vegetables
  5. Cover and boil for one hour (or more for softer veggies)
  6. Serve and enjoy!

Any benefits?

  • Easy and delicious
  • A neutral soup; suitable for everyone
  • Can be high in fiber (simply add more veggies!)

Chicken Feet, Snow Fungus and Apple Soup

Soup Name:  Chicken Feet, Snow Fungus and Apple Soup
 
Traditional Chinese Name: 雞爪雪耳 果湯 (tāng)

Introduction:
Chicken feet are very popular for use as the base meat in Chinese soups.  Snow fungus adds a delicious texture and the apples add a sweet tang to the soup.  This is a great winter soup.

What Ingredients are required?

6 pieces of chicken feet
2 large pieces of snow fungus
4 large fuji apples
1 tablespoon of apricot kernels
1 small piece (strawberry-sized) ginge
r (whole and skinned)
2 pieces of dried scallop

How do I prepare it?

  1. Start boiling your water soup
  2. In a separate pot, blanch the chicken feet and strain it removing any dirt and debris from the blanching
  3. Trim the nails and hardened skin from the chicken feet and add them to the boiling water of your soup
  4. Soak the snow fungus (approximately 2 large tennis ball-sized pieces) in cold water for 20 minutes) and cut into smaller pieces
  5. Wash, core, and quarter the apples
  6. Add the apples, snow fungus, dried scallops, and apricot kernels into the soup 
  7. Peel the ginger and throw into the soup whole
  8. Boil for at least 60-90 minutes on high heat.  The longer you boil it, the tastier the soup!

 Any benefits?

  • This soup derives most of its benefits from the snow fungus.

Any precautions?

  • None that I can think of.  Enjoy!