Ginseng Silkie Chicken Soup 花旗參竹絲雞湯

Ingredients

• 1 Silkie chicken (approx. 900g)
• 900 g Pork bones (or use 1lb lean pork meat)
• 20 g American ginseng
• 4 slices Ginger
• 50 g Red dates (pitted)
• 20 g Goji berries
• 1 ½ tsp Salt
• 2 L Water

Steps

1. 1

   Chop silkie chicken into smaller pieces

2. 2

   In a large pot, put in silkie chicken pieces and pork bones. Add water to cover and bring to a boil. Turn off heat. This step is to cleanse the meat so that your soup can be free of any impurities and bone residue. You may want to scoop out the impurities and foam before pouring everything out so that it doesn’t stick to the meat

3. 3

   Pour into a colander and rinse clean with cold water

4. 4

   Soak ginseng, red dates and goji berries for 10 minutes to soften and to rinse off any dust

5. 5

   Remove the pits in the red dates Pits can cause heatiness and is often removed before cooking

6. 6

   In a clean pot, place silkie chicken, pork bones, ginseng, red dates, goji berries, ginger and 2 L of water. Bring to a boil and then turn heat down to low

7. 7

   Cook on low heat for 3 hours

8. 8

   Taste and add salt to suit your taste.

9. 9

   Serve

10. 10

    Silkie chicken and meat on bones can be eaten. It’s common to serve with soy sauce for dipping. I generally will not eat it and I add another 1.5L of water and make more soup for the next day.