Chicken Soup with Red Dates
Soup Name: Chicken Soup with Red Dates
Traditional Chinese Name: 红枣雞湯 (hóng zǎo jī tāng)
Introduction:
This soup is an easy and sweet soup that is perfect to warm you up on a chilly autumn or winter’s day. Chicken is considered to be very nourishing (補) and can give your body a good kick of healthy heartiness (this is similarly recognized by Westerners who drink chicken noodle soup when sick). To sweeten the soup, red dates are added. We also suggest adding a palmful of wolfberries to boost the qi or “chi” which is ideal for cool weather. Carrots round out this simple yet delicious soup. You can see from the photo that this recipe results in a rich, deeply-colored broth and I can assure you, it’s tasty, too! (Yes, I’m drinking as I type this post.) Depending on whether you use a fresh, whole chicken or alternatives, the difficulty of creating this soup can vary from 1-star (from pre-washed and cut chicken with minimal preparation) to 4-star (whole chicken from scratch).
Amount serves: 6 to 8 soup bowls
What Ingredients are required?
1 fresh whole chicken, quartered
5 large, dried red dates (to taste depending on how sweet you like your soup to be)
10 g of dried wolfberries (small palm-ful)
2 large fresh carrots, sliced
2L of water
How do I prepare it?
- Prepare the chicken
- Wash and soak the dried wolfberries
- Add red dates to your soup water and bring to a boil
- When the water boils, combine all the ingredients together
- Boil on medium-high for at least 1 hour
Any benefits?
- A warm soup that is perfect for autumn or winter
- Chicken is very nourishing (補) and creates a healthful soup
- Red dates are an excellent source of Vitamin C
- Red dates are also used in throat-soothing drinks
- Wolfberries are high in antioxidants and contain 6 essential vitamins, Beta-Carotene, Calcium, Potassium, Iron and Zinc
- Wolfberries are also known to enhance the qi or “chi” in your body
Any tips or precautions?
- Whenever using real, whole chicken, it’s useful to have an oil scooper on hand to help scoop out the fat and any large or small particles that float to the top of your soup. I usually need to use the scoop two or three times — once after the soup is fully boiled and still hot and there is an abundance of oil floating on the top, then once again after the soup has cooled slightly and you have additional oil and particles that have had time to float to the surface, and usually once again upon re-heating (possibly the next day).
- Feel free to drink the same soup the next day after re-boiling. I like to make an extra big pot and any that isn’t finished can be drank and finished off the next day.