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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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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Pork Bones and Arrowroot Soup

by LadyTong | Jan 11, 2009 | Soups for Children | 0 comments

Soup Name: Pork Bones and Arrowroot Soup

Traditional Chinese Name: 粉葛湯 ( fěn gé tāng)

Introduction:

This is the simple arrowroot soup. This soup is high in protein and fiber. It is a very neutral soup and requires little effort to make it. Some people really love to eat the arrowroot once its been boiled in a soup (like my mother) because it is incredibly starchy and substitutes as a meal.

What Ingredients are required?

1 pound of fresh pork bones
2 large arrowroots
3 large dried dates
5-6 pieces of dried scallop
1 teaspooon of salt (to marinate the pork bones)

How do I prepare it?

Mix salt and pork bones together and let sit in a bag for at least an hour (best overnight)
Wash the pork bones thoroughly in cool running water
Start boiling your water soup and add the dried dates and conpoys
In a separate pot, blanch the pork bones and strain it to remove any dirt and debris from the blanching
Add the pork bones and chopped arrowroot to the boiling water of your soup
Boil together for at least 60-90 minutes on high heat. The longer you boil it, the tastier the soup. It is best eaten when the pork is falling off the bones.

Any benefits?

This soup is high in fiber and is ideal for children as it is very natural and neutral

Any precautions?

Since the arrowroot is high in fiber, it is not easily digested in children and you should give them just the soup

Arrowroot

by LadyTong | Jan 11, 2009 | Uncategorized | 0 comments

Ingredient Name: Arrowroot or Obedience Plant

Traditional Chinese Name: 粉葛 (fěn gé)

What is this?

Arrowroot is the edible starch from the rhizomes (rootstock) of West Indian arrowroot
It is often ground down to a powdered starch form which is completely white and powdery in form
The powder itself is used as a thickener, in cakes, pies, soups, and sauces
The rhizome itself can grow up to 6-7 pounds in weight at maturity
Arrowroot has no flavour or smell, but when boiled it has a slighty nutty sweet taste
If used in soups as cubes, the root is very fibery and coarse

How do I prepare it?

Wash and peel the arrowroot
Cut into cubes for soup usage

Where can I buy this?

You can buy arrowroot from most Asian supermarkets
It is also available in the wet marts in Hong Kong and can be bought by preference of weight and size

What is the cost?

Arrowroot costs roughly $1.00 CAD / pound, so a large arrowroot can easily cost $5 – $6

Any substitutes?

A good substitute for the arrowroot in soups is the lotus root

Any benefits?

Due to its blandness, it’s suitable for many diets (especially soups for children)
The arrowroot does contain a healthy amount of calcium
It is recommended for people who feel nauseous to consume arrowroot and helps soothes upset stomachs

Any precautions?

The arrowroot is not a highly nutritious food with 84% of the root composed of starch
Arrowroots can be quite dirty and need to be thoroughly washed prior to consumption
If purchasing arrowroot powder, be sure to purchase it from a reputatble source as some sources many not sell PURE arrowroot

Additional Information?

Fresh arrowroot stores relatively well in the fridge and can keep for up to 1 month

Resources: