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Double-boiled chicken with cordyceps flower
“The pot she makes when someone needs looking after.”
Ingredientsone pot, serves 4
Method
隔水燉 (double boiling, where the jar sits in water rather than over direct heat): put the ingredients in the 燉盅 and pour in about 1 litre of boiling water to just cover, put the lid on and seal the jar with cling film (traditionally 紗紙, mulberry paper), stand it in a pot of boiling water filled to a third or half way up the jar, and cook for 3 hours, topping up with boiling water along the way. Salt goes in last. Orange 蟲草花 turns the soup golden.
- Soak and rinse the 蟲草花. Rinse the dried 淮山, goji berries and red dates, pitting the dates.
- Chop the fresh chicken into pieces and blanch it (汆水, a quick boil) to draw off the blood.
- Put everything into the 燉盅 (double-boiling jar) and pour in boiling water to just cover.
- Seal the jar and double boil (隔水燉, the jar sits in water rather than over direct heat) for 3 hours.
- Season with salt and it is ready.
Who it suits
- a sensitive nose
- a sensitive airway
- people who tire easily
- ringing in the ears, traditionally read as kidney weakness
Who should take care
- no double-boiled tonics while you have a cold with fever
- few restrictions, most people can drink it; neutral in nature, neither cooling nor drying, suitable for all ages
Soup stories
蟲草花 is farmed 蛹蟲草, the everyday stand-in for 冬蟲夏草 at a small fraction of the price. It is a regular on double-boil shop menus, in dishes like 蟲草花無花果燉雞 and 椰小盅's 蟲草花乾貝土雞燉鮮鮑.
From the same family
Lo Fo Tong is cultural food-heritage reference, not medical advice. If you are pregnant, unwell or on medication, talk to your doctor or registered practitioner before changing what is in the pot.