Watercress soup (西洋菜汤)

This is a simple soup and is not very herbal. It has red dates and honey dates in it. We usually consume it once in a while for nourishing purposes, and it tastes good too. Adults and children can consume this clear soup and eat the watercress vegetable as well.

Watercress Soup 西洋菜汤 (serves 4)

200g     Pork ribs
150g     Watercress, washed.
2           Honey dates
8-10      Red dates
2 pips   Garlic
2 litres  Water
2 tbsp   Soy Sauce

1. First, boil some water and blanched the pork ribs to remove excess fat and impurities. Rinse the pork and placed aside.
2. Rinse the red dates and the honey dates, set aside.
3. Now prepare the soup by boiling the water in a large pot. Placed in all the ingredients except the soy sauce.
4. When it boils turn down to low heat and simmer for at least 2 hours, then add in the soy sauce and simmer for another 1 hour. Now it is ready to consume.

*This is a type of (老火湯) so the longer you slow cook the soup the better it will taste. (A slowcooker can be used for this soup.)

Easy Chinese Peanut Soup (花生汤)

I have been recieving some dry raw peanuts from my mother who just brought them in from China as a gift. So I have decided to cook my favourite peanut soup. It is so simple that requires no preparation at all. It simply gives you the proteins and energized you up a bit and quite delicious too.

Peanut Soup 花生汤 Serves 4

500g         Pork Ribs
3/4 cup    Raw Peanuts with or without skin (soaked overnight with water)
10             Red dates (washed)
1 Tbsp     Light Soy sauce (optional)
1 litre       Water

1. First bring to boil a pot of water, then blanched the pork ribs to get rid of impurities.
2. After blanching the pork ribs set aside to cool.
3. Now prepare the soup by adding peanuts, red dates and pork ribs all in a pot of boiling water.
4. Boil then simmer for at least 4-5 hours until the peanut is soft.
5. Add soy sauce or salt to taste. (Optional)
6. If you are using a pressure cooker, the simmering time can be reduce to about 45mins to an hour only. 

* Just a note, Peanuts with skin has a better flavour added to the soup. Also you can add a few pips of garlic into the soup for better taste.

Chicken Essence (鸡精)

Once in a while we will need to re-boost our energy. My mother used to say, drink the essence as it will improve your memory and reduce stress.
If you want to know more about the benefits of Chicken essense; read this : Effect of Taking Chicken Essence on Stress and Cognition

nutriweb.org.my/publications/mjn009_1/mjn9n1_art3.pdf

Chicken essence is actually good for both old and young. I personally do not like the ones that they sell off the rack Chicken essence as I do not really like the smell of it, also I have no faith in how they are prepared. So I decided that the only way is to cooked it myself, and it is really easy to cook using a double boiler.

Chicken Essence -鸡精(serves 4)

1 whole   Free range chicken / Kampung Chicken

6-8 pcs    American ginseng shreds

1. First flatten the chicken and hammer it a few times at the bonny areas.
2. Put in the ginseng shreds at the bottom of the pot. Then place your hammered chicken on top of it.
3. Cover the double boiler and boil for at least 3-4 hours. (I boil for 6 hours using my electric double boiler.)
4. Now when it is done, discard the chicken and drink only the essence.
5. If you feel that throwing away the chicken is a bit wasted, try to cook it again with some vegetables and drink the soup and eat the veges only as the chicken will be tasteless.

Please note that a double boiler has two pots in its combination. One pot to place the water and let it boil while inside there is another pot whereby you place in your ingredients. You cannot substitute it with a slow cooker.

Dang Shen Tea II - (黨參茶)

Dang Shen or Codonopsis root is generally used to improve "Qi" and blood circulation. This is another version of  tea to improve my blood circulation and accordingly has also proven to reduce fatigue and enable the lungs to inhale better. It kind of moisten the lungs a bit. This tea can be consume every day or once in a week.

For more information about this tea do refer to this website: http://alternativehealing.org/dang_shen.htm

Dang Shen Tea II -黨參茶(serves 2)

3 sticks  Codonopsis root (Dang Shen/ Dong sam)

6 pcs     Astalagus root (Huang Qi)

1 tbsp    Chinese Wolfberries (Gei chi)

8            Red Dates

2 bowls Water

1. First wash all ingredients and put into a pot.
2. Add in the water and bring to boil; then turn the heat down to simmer for half an hour.
3. Now you can pour out the tea and drink it.
4. Again pour in 2 bowls of water and bring it to boil again; this time simmer it longer, drink it after.
5. If you are using a double boiler, set the time for 1 hour for the first, then 2 hours for the second time. You can drink this tea for two times in a day.