Recipe 1. Rice cooker chicken mushroom soup 

Make sure you have a rice cooker that is big enough to hold the ingredients and still be only 70% full. Having said that, you do not have to use a rice cooker for this. Any soup pot, slow cooker and even thermal cooking pot will do. 

Chicken, shiitake mushrooms and carrots are good complementary ingredients in a Chinese soup. They offer a good range of vitamins and minerals as well as proteins and carbohydrates. They are also not exotic ingredients where you need to hunt high and low for in an Asian grocery store.

They are readily available in most supermarkets. You soak the dried mushrooms the night before to ensure complete re-hydration. If you don't have time, you can use fresh shiitake mushrooms. The flavour and texture will not be the same but that's okay. 

Depending on the rice cooker you are using, you may have to turn off your rice cooker manually if it doesn't have other settings. 

Ingredients

• Half a chicken
• 6 dried shiitake mushrooms
• 2 carrots
• Salt to taste

Directions (for the rice cooker)

1. Clean the chicken and place it into the inner pot of the rice cooker. Remove the skin if you do not want the soup to be too oily
2. Add enough water to cover the chicken. Substitute with chicken or vegetable stock if you have some
3. Rinse the dried mushrooms and soak in warm water until they re-hydrate
4. Wash and peel the carrots and cut into bite-sized cubes
5. Drain the mushrooms and cut into bite-sized pieces
6. Place the mushrooms and carrots into the rice cooker together with the chicken and stock
7. Cover and press the cook button to start the cooking process
8. When the soup is done, turn the cooker off and let the soup sit for another 10 minutes before serving

Recipe 2: Clear chicken mushroom soup

A light and quick chicken mushroom soup. 

Ingredients

• 10 Chinese mushrooms
• 1 boneless chicken thigh 
• 20g ginger slices
• 1 stalk of spring onion, chopped
• 1 litre water
• 2 tablespoon rice wine
• 2 tablespoon cooking oil
• Salt

Method

1. Wash the Chinese mushrooms
2. Cut the chicken thigh meat into smaller pieces and parboil
3. Heat the cooking oil and fry the ginger and mushrooms till fragrant
4. Add the water and bring to a boil
5. Add the chicken
6. Lower the heat to a simmer for about 15 minutes
7. Add salt and rice wine to taste
8. Sprinkle with chopped spring onion before serving

Recipe 3: Chicken mushroom soup for nursing mothers

This soup is more like a chicken stew than a soup.

When preparing food for nursing mothers, the Chinese avoids anything that is considered cold or cooling. The dishes need to be warming but not heaty just like the following 2 recipes.

Chicken and ginger is a golden pair in the Chinese dietary practice. A mild and warming combination. Most beneficial for nursing mothers.

Dried Chinese mushrooms impart a woody, smoky flavour to the chicken and ginger stew. It has a stronger flavour than the fresh mushrooms and is more suitable for stewing.

Ingredients

• 1 free range chicken
• 10 dried and large Chinese mushrooms
• 2 stalks of spring onion
• 2 pieces of old ginger
• 2 tbsp garlic

Seasonings

• 2 tsp salt
• 5 tbsp rice wine
• Dash of sesame seed oil

Directions (for claypot)

1. Soak the dried mushrooms in room temperature water until they re-hydrate
2. Cut the chicken into sections
3. Parboil the chicken pieces for about 5 minutes
4. Score the caps of the mushrooms
5. Wash and cut the spring onions into smaller sections
6. Place the chicken pieces, mushrooms, ginger and garlic in a claypot
7. Add enough water to cover the chicken pieces
8. Bring the pot to a boil
9. Lower the heat and cover the pot and simmer for 30 minutes
10. Add the spring onions and cook for a further 5 minutes
11. Add the seasonings before serving

If you don't have a clay pot, use a dutch oven or a slow cooker

Recipe 4: Chicken mushroom soup with garlic

The chicken is pan-fried to crisp up the skin. I thought it will increase the oiliness of the soup but I was wrong. Frying the skin leave some of the oil in the pan which you can then pour away. 

Ingredients

• 2 boneless chicken thighs
• 16 dried Chinese mushrooms
• 10 cloves of garlic, peeled
• 5 slices of ginger
• Salt
• Water

Method

1. Soak the Chinese mushrooms until they are rehydrated. You can substitute with fresh mushrooms
2. Heat a pan to middle heat, add the chicken meat skin down to brown and crisp up the skin. You don't have to add oil before adding the chicken
3. Remove when the skin turns golden brown. Let it cool
4. Remove the stems of the mushrooms. They are quite tough
5. Cut the cooled chicken thighs into smaller pieces
6. Heat the chicken oil left in the pan and fry the mushrooms until they turn fragrant
7. Add the chicken pieces, ginger and garlic and stir-fry
8. Add sufficient water to cover all the ingredients. You may also add the water used to soak the mushrooms
9. Let the whole pan simmer for about 10 to 15 minutes
10. Add salt to taste before serving

Recipe 5: Steamed chicken and mushrooms

This is not a soup. It is a steamed dish which will create a very flavourful dish with a thin sauce.  

Ingredients

• Half a fresh chicken, chopped into small pieces
• 5 slices of ginger, julienned
• 20 fresh Chinese mushrooms

Marinate

• 1 teaspoon rice wine
• 1 tablespoon soy sauce
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 1 tablespoon oyster sauce
• 1 tablespoon cornstarch
• 1 tablespoon sesame seed oil
• 1 teaspoon white pepper powder

Method

1. Place the chicken into a mixing bowl, add the ginger and the marinate 
2. Mix well and let it stand for about 20 minutes
3. Wash the mushrooms well and halve them
4. Parboil the mushrooms for about a minute
5. Add to the marinated chicken and mix thoroughly
6. Place the mixture in a serving plate
7. Steam the chicken for about 15 minutes
8. Drizzle a bit of sesame seed oil before serving