All soups › Nourishing tonics
Double-boiled chicken with sea conch (whelk)
“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 a family sized 燉盅, pour in about 1 litre of boiling water to just cover, seal with cling film (traditionally 紗紙, mulberry paper) and put the lid on, fill the outer pot to a third or half way up the jar, and cook for 3 to 4 hours. 螺頭 stands up to long cooking and only tastes sweeter for it. Salt goes in last.
- Soak dried 螺頭 overnight to reconstitute it, or thaw the frozen kind, then blanch it (汆水, a quick boil) with ginger and wine to take off the smell.
- Chop the fresh chicken into pieces and blanch it with the lean pork.
- Put everything into the 燉盅 (double-boiling jar) and pour in boiling water to just cover.
- Seal with cling film, put the lid on, and double boil (隔水燉, the jar sits in water rather than over direct heat) for 3 to 4 hours.
- Season with salt before drinking.
Who it suits
- regular late nights
- dry, gritty eyes
- a dry mouth and tongue
- students and office workers who sleep badly
Who should take care
- people with a weak, cold digestion or who get diarrhoea easily should be careful
- not for people with gout, seafood is high in purines
- no double-boiled tonics while a cold is still unresolved (general warning across this collection)
Soup stories
響螺 is the king of shellfish at a Cantonese banquet. The jar version uses frozen 響螺頭 and is the home-scale format of the restaurant conch double-boil. Hung Fook Tong sells it positioned as 滋陰補腎, nourishing yin and supporting the kidneys.
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.