Tuesday 4 May 2010

Black Chicken Porridge

Come and pamper mum with this healthy and nutritious porridge this coming Mother's Day that is falls on the 9 of May. I am sure most of us are more familiar on using “Black Chicken -乌骨鸡” to cook with herbal soup rather than porridge. The idea of this porridge comes from the similar concept of Korean Ginseng Chicken where they use glutinous rice as one of the ingredients. So I thought maybe I can turn the herbal soup into something light and yet nutritious for the whole family.

The ingredients used can be easily found in most Chinese Medical Hall and you can also get the black chicken from most of the supermarket too. The use of Lotus Seeds, Yu Zhu and Dried Longan can nourishes Ying and quenches thirst, benefits bloods and clams the spirit and as well for treating tensions and forgetfulness too. Whereas Black Chicken nourishes the Yin and strengthens the kidney.

Ingredients: (serves 2)
1 Black Chicken, 乌骨鸡
10g Dried Longan, 桂圆
10g Lotus Seeds, 莲子
5g Huai Shan, 淮山
5g Yu Zhu, 玉竹
5g Wolfberries, 枸杞
10g Dried Scallop, optional
3/4 Cup of Uncooked Rice
1.5 Litre Of Water

Method:
1. Trim the fats and unwanted parts of the black chicken, cut it into 4 parts. (you can ask the stall owner to help you to remove the skin, fats and cut it into quarter, according to my mum some supermarkets also provide this trimming & cutter services)
2. Place the chicken pieces in boiling water for about 3 – 5 minutes to remove the odors then rinse it with tap water and set aside for later use.
3. Rinse the uncooked rices for a few times and soak it in water for about 20 – 30 minutes so that it will soften easily and shorten the cooking time.
4. Using a medium or big soup pot (I used a big claypot), bring the water to boil, add in all the ingredients except lotus seeds, wolfberries and uncooked rice.
5. When the water comes to boil, reduce the heat; simmer the herbs and chicken for about 20 minutes.
6. Next add in the uncooked rice(without the water) and soft lotus seeds to the soup mixture, when the soup comes to boil, reduce heat and simmer for about 10 – 15 minutes.
7. Remember to stir the porridge on and off (to prevent burning), if the soup tends to dry out, you can add in some hot water to dilute it.
8. Adjust the cooking time to the porridge texture according to your mum’s liking, stirring in the wolfberries about 3 minutes before you turn off the heat.
9. You can serve this as lunch or dinner with some extra spring onion or coriander as garnish.

Note:
~ When using dried scallop, soaked it in hot water till soft, rinse and set aside before adding to the soup with the rest of the ingredients.
~ Soak lotus seeds without pre-washing in hot water till soft, removed the green bitter dried germ of the lotus seeds before adding to the soup.


With all these benefits of the ingredients used, why not list down your shopping list and start preparing something for your mum this coming Mother’s Day. I am sure she will be delighted even it is just a simple dish that is out from your hand and heart. Posted by Picasa


5 comments:

  1. can tell this porridge is really sweet! :D

    ReplyDelete
  2. Now black chicken in porridge is totally new to me. Had black chicken done in herbal soup only so far. But I suppose with all the goodie stuff that's going into the dish, it must be so tasty and good for you too.

    ReplyDelete
  3. Never thought of using black chicken in porridge before! Must be very tasty.

    ReplyDelete
  4. Hi Kitchen Corner, noobcook, Jo and tigerfish, thanks for all your kind words on this dish :) It is indeed a very good and healthy porridge for everyone at home. Do give it a try when you are free :)

    ReplyDelete

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