This is one soup hubby & I loved …sometimes I would add noodles but most times, we will just have it as it is as we did last night, with a plate of Stir-Fried Oyster Sauce Iceberg Lettuce 🙂
This is the combination of assortment of Chinese Herbs I had used for my Chicken Soup …. you can get various pre-packed combination of such herbs meant for Chicken or Pork Ribs soups from the Chinese Medical Hall and the label normally will tell you what medicinal value it may have … just simply give the herbs a quick rinse before use …
Normally such herbal soup is best “double-boiled” but I don’t have a big enough “double-boiler” pot so I cooked it in my Crockpot/Slow Cooker …some people prefer to use skinless chicken as it is healthier since herbal soup is supposed to be a health soup but I left the skin on the legs but stripped the skin off the breasts … I like my soup with a little oil in it still …tastier 😉
RECIPE
Ingredients:
a pre-packed packet of Chinese Herbs
1 whole chicken, chopped into 8 pieces or you may use 4 whole chicken legs
1.5 – 2 ltr water (use less water if you wish a more concentrated soup broth)
salt, to taste
Methods:
- Rinse the Chinese Herbs, set aside
- Clean and chop the chicken into 8 pieces if using whole chicken or if using whole legs just leave it as it is, skin the pieces if you wish to have a truly healthy soup
- Boil the chicken in water for 5 minutes and then lift the pieces of chicken into the Double-Boiler or Crockpot/Slow Cooker
- Tip in the Chinese Herbs, add 1.5 – 2 litre hot water to the pot
- If double-boiling, double boil for about 8 hours …keep watch that the boiling water in the double-boiler does not dry up
- If cooking in the Crockpot/Slow Cooker, set it on Auto and cook for 6 hours
- When done, add a dash of salt to taste …not too much as herbal soup shouldn’t be overly salty!
- Serve up with your other dishes for dinner with rice or you may, like us, enjoy the bowl of soup as your dinner, accompanied with a stir-fried green vegetable dish
Food Is Ready 
ok just got to this post and this one wins it more than the mushroom soup… hehehe…
Shawn, this one was real good because the soup was clear just like a consomme .. I set it at Auto so that it is not boiling away but merely slow-cooking similar to ‘double-boiling’
“I don’t have a big enough “double-boiler” pot so I cooked it in my Crockpot/Slow Cooker”
Thanks for the slow cooker idea. I was having a hard time with “double-boiler” fitting too.
Also, I wish I knew the names of all the ingredients shown in the ingredients photo up there. I think I recognize huang qi, huai shan and red dates but not sure what the others are.
Is this soup good for blood circulation?
YLK, I think the pack of herbs I used above is a “luk mdi” combi …and yes, I cooked it in a slow cooker too … this is just for general well-being … for blood circulation, you need to have “tin chat” in it 😉