A chicken soup recipe with dang shen, goji berries, lean chicken breast and old cucumber

This chicken soup recipe has all my favourite chinese herbs: red dates, goji berries, and dang shen.

Dang shen ( 党参), also known as codonopsis root, has a gentler herbal flavor compared to ginseng. More information and picture of dang shen here.

Old cucumber or 老黄瓜 (lao huang gua). It is a type of squash which has brownish skin with lots of little cracks. It is detoxifying and cooling, especially good for summer.

Old cucumber soup, herbal or not, makes regular appearance on dinner tables. It is also served by quite a few local chinese restaurants as their soup of the day.

This is a pleasant light herbal soup. Omit the ginger if you do not like it.

The soup stock is made using bouillon cubes. It is a quick way to create flavour for soups. If you don't want to use it, make your own chicken soup stock or buy ready-made ones.

Ingredients

1 fresh chicken breast
500g old cucumber 老黄瓜 (lao huang gua)
1 thick slice ginger
4 dried chinese mushrooms
6g codonopsis root 党参 (dang shen)
5 red dates
1 tbsp chinese wolfberries / goji berries 枸杞子 (gou ji zi)

If you need to stock up on chinese herbs, try buying them online at 1stChineseHerbs.com.

Soup base

1.8 liter of water
3 bouillon cubes

Directions

1. Cut the chicken breast into bite-sized pieces
2. Cut the old cucumber into sections and remove the seeds
3. Wash and soak the dried chinese mushrooms in hot water
4. Wash and clean the codonopsis root and halve it if it is too long
5. Wash the red dates and remove the seeds
6. Bring the water to a boil and add the bouillon cubes
7. Add all the ingredients into the chicken stock
8. Bring soup back to a boil
9. Low heat to a slow simmer and simmer for about 50 minutes
10. Serve

Recipe link: http://www.homemade-chinese-soups.com/chicken-soup-recipe-03.html

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This page has been edited and updated on 9 August 2013.

Thanks, Phoebe

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