Chinese Snow Fungus Herbal Soup

Snow fungus (雪耳) can also be called silver ear fungus (银耳) or white wood ear fungus ( 白木耳).  It is just like the name implied, it is a species of fungus, white in color that grows on dead attached and recently fallen branches of broadleaf trees.  It is widely available in the tropics and is cultivated for used in Chinese medicine and Chinese cuisine.  White fungus contains much iron, vitamin C, calcium and phosphorus. It is said to be effective in nourishing the lungs, healing dry cough and clearing heat in the lungs.  We used it in sweet and savory dishes.  Most common dessert would be white fungus stewed in rock sugar with red dates and dried longan.  But I liked mine in savory herbal soup.

I think I didn't boil mine long enough as my snow fungus was crunchy instead of soft.  Is there any other way to make the snow fungus soft besides soaking it in warm water and long simmering time?  

Ingredients:

Pork ribs, about a bowl

Snow fungus, about 2, soak in warm water overnight to soften, cleaned

Dried scallops or dried oysters, rinsed

Yellow beans, about 1/4 cup, soak for 1 hour

Dried red dates, about 10

Dried longans, about 8

Dried Polygonatum (Yok Chook), about 10-12 pieces
Salt to taste before serving

Method:

1.  In a pot, add pork ribs and cold water just enough to cover the pork ribs, let it boil for 2-3 minutes, drain and wash the pork ribs.

2.  Add in 1500ml water in a pot, let it boil, add in the cleaned ribs, dried scallops, snow fungus and the rest of the ingredients.  Turn to low heat and let it simmer for 2-3 hours or until the ribs are tender and fall off the bone.  Season to taste with salt before serving.

Chi Ku Teh (Chicken Dark Herbal Soup)

Bak Ku Teh, a popular herbal soup that is dark in color that uses pork ribs, meat, etc.  But there is another version that uses chicken.  This is my first time uses chicken drumsticks for this soup because I believed the pork ribs made the soup sweeter.  After trying this, I can say it was good with chicken too, the drumsticks tasted good with the herbal flavor in it.  I loved to add boiled eggs and taufu pok (fried beancurd puff) in mine.  I was planning to create a marble eggs in this but decided against it at the last minute because I was afraid a piece of the egg shell might fall off and my daughter might accidentally drank it.  Thus no beautiful marbling effect with my boiled eggs here.

For this chicken dark herbal soup, I just used the A1 Bak Kut Teh premix that easily available at any supermarket in Malaysia.  I always bought some of these to bring back here whenever I am back in Malaysia. Got to stock up on food that I can't get it here right?  I noticed there were two types, one was without the Chinese herbs, just the premix and was selling at a cheaper rate.  The other one was in bigger packaging and included some Chinese herbs in it. I bought the one with herbs and just followed the packet direction in cooking this.  My hubby bought some fried yu tiao from Denver and we had this soup with some yu tiao just liked how I used to eat back in Malaysia.

American Ginseng Chicken Herbal Soup (洋参须鸡汤)

Hmm...I don't know how to call this 洋参须 in English and the one I found on the net was translated by Noobcook as American Ginseng Beard/ Fiber 洋参须. You can visit her site here for picture and explanation. This is the cheapest type of American Ginseng and available in most Asian stores. Instead of the Ginseng root, this is like the hair under the root. American Ginseng is traditionally used to increase energy, relieve stress, enhance the immune system and provide overall health. Normally I boil it with water for 10-15 minutes on the stove and pour as drink to sooth sore throat or make it into chicken herbal soup to drink once a month. The taste of this herbal soup is not as delicious (a bit bitter) as Dong Quai so often time I prefer to cook Dong Quai herbal soup so that my girls can enjoy some herbal soup.

Ingredients:

2 Chicken drumsticks
About 1-1.5 Tbsp. American Ginseng Beard, 洋参须 (too much of this will cause the soup to be bitter)
10 pieces of dried Polygonatum (Yok Chook)
10 Chinese dried red dates
1 Tbsp. wolfberrie/Goji berries (kee chi)
6 dried longans
1000ml water
1 tsp. salt

(For pictures of the above herbs, visit my link here)

Method:

1. In a stock pot, add in the water and let it boiled. Rinse all the herbs with water, drained.

2. When boiled, add in the chicken drumsticks and the rest of the ingredients except salt.

3. When boiled again, turn the heat to low and let it simmer for 3-4 hours. Season to taste with salt and serve hot.

Dong Quai Chicken Herbal Soup (當歸汤)

This Angelica soup (當歸汤) or "female ginseng" is widely used in Chinese traditional medicine to treat gynecological ailments, mild anemia, fatigue and high blood pressure. This soup is also cooked for new mom in the last two weeks of confinement. It is also one of my favorite soups and I cook this soup 2-3 times per month. It is best for women to drink this after each menstrual cycle to revitalize. Bonus is this soup is very sweet and delicious.



Ingredients:

2 Chicken drumsticks
2-3 pieces of sliced Angelica (Dong Guai)
10 pieces of dried Polygonatum (Yok Chook)
10 red dates
1 .5 Tbsp. wolfberrie/Goji berries (kee chi)
6 dried longan
1000ml water
Salt to taste

Method:

1. In a stock pot, add in the water and let it boiled. Rinse all the herbs with water, drained.

2. When boiled, add in the chicken drumsticks and the rest of the ingredients except salt.

3. When boiled again, turn the heat to low and let it simmer for 3-4 hours. Season to taste with salt and serve hot.