Healing Chinese Herbal Soup

Healing Chinese Herbal Soup

Healing Chinese Herbal Soup

Soup Name:

Healing Chinese Herbal Soup

Traditional Chinese Name:

北芪黨參消腫養陰湯 (běi qí dǎngshēn xiāo zhǒng yǎng yīn tāng)

For more videos, you can follow us on YouTube.

This soup is perfect for anyone who wants to replenish and strengthen blood and qi, has poor circulation, relieve fatigue, or reduce pain and inflammation.

I call this my Healing Chinese Herbal soup and want give a shout out to Tash from SouperWell for this partnership!  Hi Tash!

What’s involved?
Prep time: 20 mins

Cook time: 3 hours

Total time: 3 hours and 20 mins

Serves: 4 bowls

Ingredients

     

    Cooking Instructions
    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

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    Chinese Herbal Soup with Abalone

    Chinese Herbal Soup with Abalone

    Chinese Herbal Soup with Abalone

    Soup Name:

    Chicken Herbal Soup with Abalone
     

    Traditional Chinese Name:

    鮑魚清雞湯 (bào yú qīng jī tāng)

    This soup is warming in nature and sweet to taste.

    Visit us on YouTube for more tea and soup videos.

    One of my favourite basic chicken Chinese soups – ever!  And it’s special when I add abalone because it’s delicious to eat as part of the meal and brings a special savory taste to the soup.  You can’t really taste the sea, but it does really accent the soup!  This soup is warming in nature and sweet to taste.  I made this soup for my daughters post menstruation and it’s perfect for cold winter days or when you’d like to replenish qi or blood and have excess yin (feeling cold in the limbs, have a pale tongue, pale complexion).  

    I buy my abalone frozen from the local supermarkets.  These are a little smaller ones and are perfect for soups.  To use, you can thaw the night before or soak in cool water.  Remove from the shell gently, ensuring you don’t break any of it and then you can use a knife or your fingers to gently remove the bottom portion (also the stomach and reproduction parts of the abalone).  Be sure to also wash them.  I’ll use a toothbrush because it’s smaller and can get into the crevices of the abalone.  Some people use a brush as well.  You can also do this under running water.

    What’s involved?

    Prep time: 15 mins

    Cook time: 3 hours

    Total time: 3 hours 15 mins

    Serves: 4 bowls of soup

    Ingredients

    Cooking Instructions

    1. Begin to boil a separate pot to blanch your chicken in
    2. Prepare your chicken (I usually remove the legs and wings and quarter it)
    3. Prepare the abalone by removing it from it’s shell and removing its organs
    4. In the blanching pot, pre-boil the chicken and abalone to remove excess debris, blood, bones, and fat.  Once it boils again for 5 minutes, you can remove it from the hot water.  It doesn’t need to be fully cooked as that will happen in the soup.
    5. Begin to boil your soup water
    6. Once your soup water boils, add all the ingredients together
    7. Boil on high for 30 mins and reduce to a low boil for another 2.5 hours
    8. Serve and enjoy!  No salt needed – try it!  This soup is delicious!!

    Benefits

    Precautions

    • This is a warm soup, so not suggested for those who have yin deficiency (too much yang) in their bodies

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    Traditional Chinese Herbal Soup (as a Hot Pot Base)

    Traditional Chinese Herbal Soup (as a Hot Pot Base)

    Traditional Chinese Herbal Soup (as a Hot Pot Base)

    Soup Name:

    Traditional Chinese Herbal Soup

    Traditional Chinese Name:

    藥膳雞煲 (yàoshàn jī bāo)

    This soup is warming in nature and sweet to taste.

     

    For videos, visit us on YouTube.

    This soup has a very distinctive smell and taste of a Chinese medicinal shop.  It’s definitely a love or hate initially, but can be acquired.  The key ingredient is the “dong quai” or “angelica root” that creates that fragrant (debatable?) scent.  I’ve learned to love it after so many years of being in Hong Kong and once you taste the soup, wow!

    This soup is the ultimate warming winter hot pot delight.  You literally feel yourself getting hot and sweaty after one bowl.  It’s literally a powerful tonic that replenishes blood and Qi, improves circulation, and detoxifies the body.

     

    What’s involved?

    Prep time: 30 mins

    Cook time: 2 hours 40 mins

    Total time: 3 hours 10 mins

    Serves: 6 bowls

    Ingredients

    Soup base:

    Hot pot ingredients:

     

    • fresh napa cabbage
    • assorted mushrooms
    • fresh hard tofu

    This powerhouse healing ingredient is the key ingredient to your Chinese herbal soup!  The dong quai is warm, slightly sweet and slightly bitter, and a common herb used to promote warmth, replenish blood, and replenish yang.  This is why it’s such a common ingredient used in post partum and confinement recipes.  It’s also commonly used in healing tonics.

    I will only use this ingredient for this type of herbal soup as it’s got a very distinct pungent scent and taste.  When combined with sweeter ingredients such as red dates and goji berries, it’s really quite delicious!

     

    Cooking Instructions
    1. Add your dried herbal base directly into a pot and add in 3L of cold water
    2. Cover and boil on high heat for 30 minutes.
    3. Cut your chicken thighs into bite-sized pieces
    4. In a shallow pan, put them skin side down to render the fat out of the chicken and crisp up the skin (no oil needed!)
    5. Add salt and garlic to flavour as needed
    6. Once the soup is boiled for 30 minutes, you can move your crispy chicken to the soup.  I will usually rinse in warm water first to get rid of the extra oil, bone bits, and debris
    7. Cover and boil on medium for 2 hours (checking that it doesn’t boil over)
    8. At this point your soup is done!  You can drink as is or prepare to add your hot pot ingredients
    9. Prepare your hot pot ingredients an add to your soup
    10. Boil on high for 10 minutes
    11. Serve and enjoy!
    12. Drink your soup first with some of the ingredients added.  I won’t even begin the hot pot yet and just enjoy a soup as is!

    Chef tips!

    • For your protein, use chicken (or pork).  This compliments the herbal base very well versus pork or red meats.
    • For your hotpot ingredients, use less intense flavor ingredients and ones that will absorb more the flavours of the soup such as leafy light coloured vegetables like napa cabbage or regular cabbage versus choy sum or gailan.  Tofu is a great additive as well and fresh mushrooms work well.
    • You can add udon or vermicelli as part of your meal
    • If you’re going to cook other meats or seafood, save that for the end as it will change the flavour of the herbal soup

    For videos, visit us on YouTube.

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    Basic Chicken Soup (Base)

    Basic Chicken Soup (Base)

    Basic Chicken Soup (Base)

    Soup Name

    Basic Chinese Chicken Soup Stock (Soup Base)

    Traditional Chinese Name:  

    清雞湯 (qīng jī tāng)

     

    Here is another version of the basic chicken soup.  I’ll make this so that it can serve as a base for noodles, macaroni, with rice, or for double-boiling soups.  You can mix and match the types of vegetables to bring out the types of flavours you like, but I will usually always use some chicken bones, legs, or carcass along with dried scallops (these are almost a must for the stock soup!).   

    The benefits:

    • Perfect for any soup base. You can simply add your favourite vegetables or even Chinese herbs.
    • This soup is perfect for cooler days as it’s slightly warming
    • Perfect for confinement, postpartum, and post period
    • Ideal for the whole family, including children
    • These ingredients are readily available in most Chinese supermarkets around the world, all you need is just a chicken!
    • Be sure to to consult your (Chinese) doctor first if you’re unsure of consumption or suitability
    • You can store this soup base in a plastic container (or jar with a wide mouth so it’s easier to use back later) for up to 6 months in the freezer
    • I’ve used this as a soup base for both noodles soups and even hotpot!  It’s very versatile in what you can do with it!

    What’s involved?

    Prep time: 30 mins

    Cook time: 3 hours

    Total time: 3 hours 30 mins

    Serves: 8 bowls 

    Ingredients

    Cooking Instructions

    1. Begin to boil a separate pot for blanching the meat
    2. Soak the dried conpoys and dried shiitake mushrooms in warm water for 10 minutes, the mushrooms may need longer, until they are soft, but since it’s for the soup base, it’s ok if they are still a bit hard.
    3. You can also begin to boil your soup water
    4. When your blanching water boils, add in the chicken bones and boil on high heat for 5 minutes. Make sure the water is boiling and you should see residue, fat, grim, and even foam come to the surface.
    5. In the meantime, you can prepare all your vegetable ingredients for the base.  I will cut the onion in half, keeping on the stem so it stays intact and cut the carrots and corn into large pieces so I can easily remove them from the pot.
    6. Once your soup water boils, remove the meat from the blanching pot and shake off any excess and slowly lower into your soup water
    7. Add in dried conpoys, dried mushrooms, and all the vegetables into the pot
    8. Boil on medium heat for 30 minutes
    9. Reduce heat to the lowest and cover and let it simmer like that for another 2-3 hours (or use a thermal pot). The soup should now be a rich, golden color after boiling for so long. Be sure to scoop out any oil, fat bits, or skin from the top with an oil scooper.
    10. And you can also remove all the ingredients with a strainer so that you’re left with a beautiful soup base which you can use for other soups or dishes!

    For video on “7 Basic Chinese Soup Pantry Ingredients”, visit us on YouTube.

    Here are some examples of other soups using a chicken soup base:

    The chicken soup base is a great soup to start with for so many dishes and soups!  Here are a few to get you started!

    This is a great and very simple chicken soup that I use as a base.  My kids love drinking this as plain chicken soup.  

      Using this chicken soup base for shabu shabu is the perfect solution to start your hot pot adventures! 

        This soup is using the base chicken soup recipe that is perfect for double-boiling.  For example, the only additional ingredient added here is the ginseng on top of the soup base.

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          The “Do’s” and “Don’t’s” of Chinese Confinement

          THE DO’s and DON’T’s Of Chinese Confinement

          It all starts with one key principle in Traditional Chinese Medicine:  Re-balance the Yin and Yang in the body.

          The energy in the body post birth is normally in an increased yin (cooling) state due to the loss of blood and fluids during childbirth.  This means there is more yin in the body than normal and the yang (warming) needs to be strengthened (or replenished).

          This is the basis of the traditional DO’s and DON’T’s of Chinese Confinement.  Keep in mind that historically, without technology, heating, or the luxuries we have today, some of these traditions held very true.  However, my guidance is for you to take the principles and tweak it so it fits your lifestyle, your environment, and whatever your resources allow.  For example, DO NOT WASH YOUR HAIR is one that you will hear very often.  The wet hair induces dampness into the body and as it air dries, it becomes cold, which also increases yin into the body through the head.  However, modern technology allows for heated spaces and hair dryers.  So if you do wash your hair, be sure to do so in a heated room and then blow dry your hair on medium to high heat until it is fully dried.

          Don’t be exposed to windy or cool conditions

           

           

          Yang itself is the warming and dry element of the two and is difficult to replenish if the external environment doesn’t allow it.  In fact, it may be the opposite in that more Yin is going into the body if it’s too cool, too damp, or too wet in and around the healing body.

          This is why you’ll see pregnant women wearing wooly hats in the summer in Hong Kong.  At all costs, eliminate any opportunity where any parts of your exposed body are to cool, cold, or wet conditions.  Here are some examples:

          • If you’re breastfeeding and have your shoulders exposed, use a towel, shawl, or wrap to cover them
          • If you must have air conditioning on, turn the vents towards the ceiling or walls and have the cooler air circulate on the outside edges
          • Wear thicker socks or slippers if you’ve got tiled or colder floors.  The feet are one source where yang can easily leave the body.
          • Exercise in moderation, paying attention to sweat rate and exposure of sweaty skin to the cold air.  I find gentle yoga or light stretching where you aren’t sweating buckets is good (but pay attention to which muscle you’re stretching, will explain further down).
          • This goes on to support the DO NOT WASH YOUR HAIR or DO NOT TAKE BATHS (with normal water) traditions, however, you still can if you’re able to keep the room warm and dry off immediately, including drying your hair thoroughly after you wash it.

           

          Don’t overexert the body

           

          This has more to do with the use of energy in the body and how it’s being resourced.  The priority of your energy should be on allowing the body to fully heal during confinement.  This is where confinement gets its terminology.  Traditionally, it’s basically the woman lying in bed, pretty immobile for a whole month.  This is highly impractical and unlikely in modern times, but some of the concept of energy preservation still apply.

          This includes:

          • DO NOT LIFT HEAVY THINGS.  The exertion applies very similarly to when you’re pregnant in that you don’t want any muscle strain to the uterus at all.  As these parts of the post partum body are healing, use the same principles.
          • IF YOU MUST, EXERCISE LIGHTLY AND IN MODERATION.  If you must exercise, although some TCM’s and Pui Yuets (Chinese Confinement Ladies) will frown upon this, do it in a way that’s minimal exertion.  Light stretching of legs and arms, but avoid the core area (unless you’re doing it wrapped) because that’s where the tradition of wrapping helps pull the stomach and core muscles back into place.
          • DO NOT DO HOUSEHOLD CHORES.  I wish!  Haha… however, this is the traditional way of managing confinement.  You usually had your mother, mother-in-law, or a Pui Yuet who can support you, but that’s a far ask in modern times.  It’s definitely easier in countries where hired help is more economical, but that’s where some planning will help you manage.  Pre-bought and prepared meals ahead of confinement will save you many trips to the grocery store and the prep work.  Source healthy food delivery or food preparation vendors.  Enlist the help of neighbours, family, or friends, including other children.  Recognize and accept trade offs.

           

          As my second post partum began, we let go of my helper in Hong Kong.  In my head, I had my mom fly over and I was a strong empowered woman, so I could do it!  Right?  I was so wrong!

          I was trying to do it all.  I was trying to be the great mom to my first daughter, the helpful daughter to my mom, the great wife to my husband, and the super housewife, but every time I see a Chinese doctor now, they always ask me to have a third baby so I can go through confinement again and do it properly and fix all the wrongs in my body!  It’s that crazy?

          My lessons learned is that there have to be trade offs.  So what if you have a messy house?  So what if you’re wearing the same clothes for 4 days straight?  Protect your body.  It’s only 30 days.

          Lisa

          Do consume warm and drying (yang-nourishing) food and drinks

           

          e of the most important part of confinement is the food and drinks you consume during this important period of your healing.  The key principle here is that anything (from a TCM perspective) nourishing the yang, mainly characterized by warming ingredients. 

          Warming ingredients include:

          • GINGER, GINGER, GINGER.  The best type is to start with raw ginger and then find uses for its peel and the root itself.  You can find this in many (if not all) confinement recipes.
          • SESAME SEEDS.  Black is best, but white are also OK.  Sesame seeds are warming and can nourish yang nicely.  I’d suggest buying a bucket of these and sprinkle over white rice, dishes, stews, and even into your soups.
          • SESAME OIL.  Similar to above, this is best used in stews and dishes and all of your cooking.
          • BLACK VINEGAR.  Perfect for confinement and found commonly in the Pig’s Feet Vinegar Soup.  This is a great condiment to have as part of your confinement garnishes.  One favourite dish I like is the stewed pork ribs in black vinegar with sugar.
          • This also means avoiding foods that are deep fried, hard to digest, raw, considered toxic (goose, beef) or cooling (seafood, watermelon, ice cream, bubble tea)

          For a selection soups for confinement, check out our CONFINEMENT SOUPS.

          You can also explore our selection of CONFINEMENT FOODS.  Here we explore all the CAN and CANNOT eat ingredients.

          • Maintaining a dry environment is also important.  This is because the principle includes dispelling both cold and moisture from the body to replenish the yang and avoid retention.  Water itself is a cool element and associated as yin.

           

           

          Do create a warming environment for the body

           

          Beyond the DO NOT’s of sitting in front of the air conditioning or exposing parts of your body to the air, what you want to do is be conscious and intentional with creating a warm space and moments for your body.  In some instances, ginger is your friend here as well, which is weird, but stay with me!

          This includes:

          • DO OVERUSE GINGER.  Here’s how you can get creative with ginger.  The peel (along with a mix of other Chinese herbs) can be dried and used to soak your feet (a great way to get yang into the body), wash your hair, and bathe in.  I would suggest using a soup bag to store all the dried ingredients so you can take it out easily and dispose of.  You can use the peels as large dried pieces into a foot soak at least once a day.  I did this before bedtimes and it helped me sleep so well!
          • DO KEEP EXTREMETIES AND HEAD COVERED.  This means, hands, feet, head, back of neck, shoulders, elbows crease, back of knees, back of ears, and ankles are sufficiently covered and not exposed to cold or air.  You’ll notice that all these body parts have pressure points when it comes to TCM and acupuncture.  There is no such thing as overdressing.  Actually, my Chinese doctor says, there is no such thing as over-nourishing during confinement!
          • DO COOK OR HEAT UP EVERYTHING THING FIRST.  This means food or drinks, too.  This is part of the warming environment, which is just as important in terms of what you put into your body.  DO NOT EAT RAW FOOD.  This is part of principle in staying with warm and cooked foods and drinks.  And I know sometimes you get so thirsty when breastfeeding, especially if you’re in an Asian country (where it’s humid and hot), so I ended up making a dried herbal tea of longans and red dates and let it cool to room temperature.  That’s how cool as I’ll drink.  Nothing with ice.  Nothing colder than body temperature ideally.

           

          TCM FACT

          Children are naturally energetic and full of yang.  They are constantly moving, running, on the go, and vibrant.  As we age, we lose that ability to hold that yang in and our energy decreases and as we become older, we become more yin and actually prefer to slow down.  This is very natural.

          Knowing this, in general, it means that younger mothers can hold more yang and replenish it easier than older mothers.  It is encouraged to replenish yang as you age (regardless of whether it’s post partum or not).  This will also help reduce hot flashes (during menopause) and con conserve their Qi in later parts of their lives.

          I’ve started consuming a cup of dried longans and red dates tea midday since I turned 40!  I may need it even more now that I’m in Canada and definitely feeling the cold.

           

          A selection of confinement Chinese Soups

          What is confinement and confinement stories

          Baby 5 & 6 Confinement story

          Some confinement foods for your tummy!

          The DO's and DON'T's of confinement

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          Basic Chinese Chicken Soup Stock (Soup Base)

          Basic Chinese Chicken Soup Stock (Soup Base)

          Basic Chinese Chicken Soup Stock (Soup Base)

          Soup Name

          Basic Chinese Chicken Soup Stock (Soup Base)

          Traditional Chinese Name:  

          清雞湯 (qīng jī tāng)

           

          This is the base Chinese Chicken Soup stock that I make for any of my Chinese soups. It’s simple, straight-forward, and delicious on its own. It does take some preparation in that you need to blanch all the meats, soak the conpoys for at least 10 minutes, quarter the chicken, and then add everything together. And then patience, for a few hours to let it all simmer together. This is perfect for freezing for usage with soups later on, so I do suggest to make more! Perfect for the whole family and any condition.

          The benefits:

          • Perfect for any soup base. You can simply add your favourite vegetables or even Chinese herbs.
          • This soup is perfect for cooler days as it’s slightly warming
          • Perfect for confinement, postpartum, and post period
          • Ideal for the whole family, including children
          • These ingredients are readily available in most Chinese supermarkets around the world, all you need is just a chicken!
          • Be sure to to consult your (Chinese) doctor first if you’re unsure of consumption or suitability
          • You can store this soup base in a plastic container (or jar with a wide mouth so it’s easier to use back later) for up to 6 months in the freezer

           

          What’s involved?

          Prep time: 30 mins

          Cook time: 3 hours

          Total time: 3 hours 30 mins

          Serves: 8 bowls 

          Ingredients

          Cooking Instructions

          1. Optional step the night before is to salt the pork shanks and chicken overnight and wrap and store in the fridge to let it sit.  This will allow the flavors to marinate and soften the meat.
          2. Begin to boil a separate pot for blanching the meat
          3. Soak the dried conpoys in warm water for 10 minutes
          4. Prepare your chicken and cutting it into quarters (or any size you prefer)
          5. When your blanching water boils, add in the pork and chicken and boil on high heat for 5 minutes. Make sure the water is boiling and you should see residue, fat, grim, and even foam come to the surface.
          6. Begin to boil your soup water
          7. Once your soup water boils, remove the meat from the blanching pot and shake off any excess and slowly lower into your soup water
          8. Add in dried conpoys
          9. Boil on medium heat for 30 minutes
          10. Reduce heat to the lowest and cover and let it simmer like that for another 2-3 hours (or use a thermal pot). The soup should now be a rich, golden color after boiling for so long. Be sure to scoop out any oil, fat bits, or skin from the top with an oil scooper

          For video on “7 Basic Chinese Soup Pantry Ingredients”, visit us on YouTube.

          Here are some examples of other soups using a chicken soup base:

          The chicken soup base is a great soup to start with for so many dishes and soups!  Here are a few to get you started!

          This simple chicken soup is a great base for noodles, rice soup, or macaroni.  Don’t forget to strain the ingredients and you can even add them as part of the meal!

            Using this chicken soup base for shabu shabu is the perfect solution to start your hot pot adventures! 

              This soup is using the base chicken soup recipe that is perfect for double-boiling.  For example, the only additional ingredient added here is the ginseng on top of the soup base.

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