Arrowroot and Water Chestnuts in Chicken Soup

by LadyTong | Sep 7, 2023 | Soups for Children, Spring Soups | 3 comments

Arrowroot and Water Chestnuts in Chicken Soup

Soup Name:

Traditional Chinese Name:

馬蹄粉葛雞湯 (mǎtí fěn gé jī tāng)

Nature: Slightly cooling

Taste: Sweet and savory

For more videos, you can follow us on YouTube.

A great soup for nourishing the lungs, helping with coughs and reducing phlegm.

The key ingredient here is the water chestnut. This is a common herb in the Chinese cuisine that is sweet, crunchy, and cooling. It’s the root of a water plant that has a brown outer skin and crunchy internal flesh.

The water chestnut is a cooling herb and can be used to treat conditions with heat (such as fevers or infections). It’s ideal for treating hot phlegm in the lungs and sinuses.

Be sure to buy water chestnuts that are firm in texture. This means they are still fresh. As they dry out, they soften and the interior becomes powdery. The shelf live of water chestnuts is around 1 week in the fridge.

What’s involved?

Prep time: 30 mins

Cook time: 2 hours and 30 mins

Total time: 3 hours

Serves: 4-6 bowls

Ingredients

1 fresh whole chicken
10 fresh chicken feet
1 peel of dried tangerine peel
1 pound of smilax root
1 arrowroot
10-15 fresh water chestnuts
3 L water
salt to flavour

Cooking Instructions

Cut smilax root & arrowroot into edible cubes
Boil a pot of water to blanch smilax root, chicken & chicken feet (don’t cut nails as it will release oils into the soup)
Boil soup water
Wash and peel water chestnuts
When water boils, add all the ingredients together
Boil on high for 30 minutes and reduce to continually boiling for another 2 hour
Serve and enjoy! You can also serve the arrowroot and chicken feet as part of the meal! That’s why I put in extra chicken feet! LOL.

EQUIPMENT USED

To answer your questions on what equipment I'm using, I've built a section here where you can find and explore what I'm using to make soups. Ingredients are a little harder, but I will do my best as I source them around. However, you can always message me on Instagram, TikTok, YouTube, or Facebook, and I will reply and try to point you in some direction!

Soup bag (fish bag, mesh bag)

A great help for fish or small bones in soups, including small ingredients such as barley, fox nuts, spices just to keep everything together.

Thermal induction soup pot

A MUST HAVE in the kitchen! Energy saving, cost effective, and perfect for busy chefs! Check out my article here that explains it.

Fine mesh oil scooper

Another MUST HAVE in the kitchen for soups! It's so fine that it will scoop off the top oil and foam layer when using meats in your soup!

Stove top safe tea pot (for herbal teas)

I use these types of stove top safe tea pots to make most of my herbal teas!

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Spinach and Water Chestnuts in Chicken Broth

by LadyTong | Mar 15, 2014 | Soups for Children, Summer Soups | 0 comments

Spinach and Water Chestnuts in Chicken Broth

Soup Name:

Spinach and Water Chestnuts in Chicken Broth

Traditional Chinese Name:

菠菜馬蹄雞湯 (bō cài tāng mǎ tí jī tāng)

This soup is slightly cooling in nature and sweet to taste.

For videos, visit us on YouTube.

This is a variation on a restaurant-styled spinach soup I had at a Chinese restaurant. In their version, the spinach was less dense and more coarse and it was called a “gung” in Cantonese – meaning a thick stew type of soup. I wanted something lighter, healthier for the kids and lighter on the corn starch, so kind of made this up. It turned out to be delicious and the water chestnuts added a refreshing and crunchy texture that I loved! For the vegetarian version, use vegetable broth instead.

What’s involved?

Prep time: 15 mins

Cook time: 15 mins

Total time: 30 mins

Serves: 4-6 bowls

For videos, visit us on YouTube.

Benefits

This soup is extremely high in iron, calcium and antioxidants (that help kill free radicals and slow down the sign of aging).
It’s suitable for the whole family.
It’s an easy and quick soup that you can whip up in less than half an hour.

Ingredients

3 cloves of fresh garlic, finely diced
1/2 fresh white onion, finely chopped
6 bunches of fresh spinach, chopped
2 cups of chicken broth
2 cups of water
10 fresh water chestnuts, peeled

Cooking Instructions

Finely chop both onions and garlic
In your soup pot, add a teaspoon of cooking oil and fry garlic and onions until the onions are caramelized
Throw in the chopped spinach and cook for another 5 minutes while continuously stirring
Add in chicken broth and water
Boil on medium for another 10 minutes (or until boiling)
Remove from heat and using a hand blender, blend the soup until it runs smooth
In a pot of hot water, boil the peeled water chestnuts for 5 minutes
When ready, remove and finely chop the water chestnuts
Sprinkle the water chestnuts on top of the soup and serve!

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Arrowroot and Water Chestnuts Vegetarian Soup

by LadyTong | May 11, 2012 | Soups for Children, Vegetarian | 0 comments

Arrowroot and Water Chestnuts Vegetarian Soup

Soup Name:

Arrowroot and Water Chestnuts Vegetarian Soup

Traditional Chinese Name:

馬蹄粉葛湯 (mǎtí fěn gé tāng)

This soup is great for heated bodies and sore throats. It is mildly cooling, but extremely soothing with it’s sweet taste and smoothness.

Since it’s meat free, it’s completely oil free and by adding more carrots, you can sweeten it to the point where you can consider drinking it cold (definitely tasted amazing cold because it really helped cool my poor, fiery throat).

You can consider adding other ingredients as well, such as corn, onions, pumpkin or even meats (pork, chicken or fish are all good meats to “salty” up the soup).

What’s involved?

Prep time: 15 mins

Cook time: 1 hour and 30 mins

Total time: 1 hour and 45 mins

Serves: 6 bowls

Ingredients

1 arrowroot, peeled & sliced
10-15 fresh water chestnuts
2 fresh carrots, cut into large pieces
1 peel of dried tangerine peel
3 large dried dates
2 L of water

Cooking Instructions

Peel and cut arrowroot into large cubes
Wash & peel water chestnuts
Wash, peel and cut carrots into large cubes
Wash and prepare dried tangerine peel (by scraping it with a flat knife on both sides)
Boil your soup water and when it boils, add all the ingredients together
Boil on high for thirty minutes and reduce to medium boil for another hour
Serve and enjoy!
Can be served cold, so you can refrigerate before serving

Any benefits?

Helps eliminate sore throats and heaty bodies
It is a mildly cooling soup
It’s quite diverse in that you can add meats (to make it more salty or just add salt in moderation) or keep it a sweet, cold drink and refrigerate prior to consumption
Excellent for young children

For videos, visit us on YouTube.

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Water Chestnuts and Pork Spring Soup

by LadyTong | Feb 5, 2010 | Spring Soups | 0 comments

Soup Name: Water Chestnuts and Pork Spring Soup

Traditional Chinese Name: 馬蹄豬湯 (matí zhū tāng)

Introduction:
With Spring just around the corner, this simple and hearty soup is a perfect way to welcome in the warming weather. This soup, along with a simple bowl of brown rice, served as dinner for my whole family, including our two-year old daughter. Water chestnuts add a delicious sweetness, a crunchy texture and creates a “cool” soup perfect for the season. Add in some hearty beans and vegetables to round out the meal.

What Ingredients are required?

1 pound of fresh pork meat (or pork bones)
3 carrots
8 chinese mushrooms
1 handful of dried black beans
15 – 20 pieces water chestnuts
2-3 L of water

How do I prepare it?

If using pork bones, pre-marinate the pork with the salt and let it sit for at least an hour (overnight is best)
Begin boiling your soup water
Boil a separate pot to blanch pork
Soak black beans and chinese mushrooms
Chop chinese mushrooms into quarters or slices
Wash, peel and cut carrots
When water boils, add all the ingredients together
Boil for at least 1 hour (longer if you wish the snow fungus softer)
Serve and enjoy!

Any benefits?

Water Chestnuts are a relatively cooling food and can help relieve coughs
Pork contains many nutrients (including 6 essential vitamins) and is a good source of iron, zinc, Vitamin B6 and protein
Black beans are an excellent source of cholesterol-lowering fiber, iron, manganese and high quality protein
An easy, hearty and nutritious soup!

Arrowroot and Water Chestnuts in Chicken Soup

EQUIPMENT USED

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Spinach and Water Chestnuts in Chicken Broth

For videos, visit us on YouTube.

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