◄ Back

Next ►

Picture 2 of 5

Lotus root soup is one of the famous slow-cooked soups to be served in the Chinese New Year eve’s reunion dinner for most Cantonese families. It is named jia ou tian cheng (佳藕天成) in Chinese, which literally means a pair of couple is born to be married with each other. The Chinese singles believe will have a good marriage in the coming year by consuming this soup.

Since I just made the lotus root soup recently, I didn’t want to have the same thing again for the weekend. So I looked out for something new to try out and finally what came across my mind was one of my favorite soups that I usually have when I dine at a local authentic Taiwanese restaurant. It is the American ginseng chicken soup (花旗參雞湯), an herb soup with slightly bitter flavor but it is definitely delicious and health benefits.

In studies and laboratory researches, American ginseng is believed to enhance our immune system by helping the body fight off illness and disease such as cold and flu. Besides, it is believed to have the capability of helping our body to deal with various kinds of stress, revive our strength and refresh our mind.

For this American ginseng chicken soup, I simmered it with the slow cooker instead of pot. In this way, the essences from the American ginseng could be fully desorbed. Essentially this soup is mostly cooked using the double steaming method (燉, dun), a Chinese cooking technique to prepare delicate food by putting the ingredients into a ceramic jar and then steam for several hours. Anyway, the outcome from slow cooker was satisfying and I was so pleased of making this scrumptious chicky herbal soup. You can try this soup out for Chinese new year or the lotus root soup.

Ingredients:
2 chicken leg quarters – 2 drumsticks and 2 thighs (cut into chunks)
2 fresh American ginseng roots
5 red dates (红枣)
1/2 handful goji berries
Water
Salt to taste

Serve size: 3-4 people

Cooking method:

1. Fill half the ceramic pot in the slow cooker with the water and boil with high heat.
2. Blanch the chicken meats in another pot with boiling water for few minutes until the scum has come out. This will give you a clear soup.
3. Remove them from the pot and rinse the chicken meats with cold water before putting them into the slow cooker.
4. Add fresh American ginseng roots, red dates and goji berries into the slow cooker right after the ribs.
5. Fill in more water to cover the ingredients.
6. Cover and simmer with low heat for 10 hours or above (overnight).
7. Add in salt to taste.

Serves hot.