Showing posts with label Burdock(牛蒡). Show all posts
Showing posts with label Burdock(牛蒡). Show all posts

Saturday 6 November 2010

Chicken, Longan and Burdock Soup

Remember my "Seah's Emperor Herbs Chicken" post which I have posted in late October. This is part II of the post on how I used the other half of the chicken which I have mentioned in that post about cooking this "Longan Burdock Soup".

This is another version of my "burdock" soup which use chicken parts for those who prefer chicken flavour soup. But if you are interested about the recipe using pork muscle on the Double-Boiled Pork Muscle with Burdock Soup you can always refer to the link HERE.

These are the ingredients and steps for making the chicken soup:-

Ingredients:-
1/2 Portion of Chicken, about 500g
200g of Burdock(牛蒡), cut into sections
10g of Yuzhu(玉竹)
10g of Dried Longan(桂圆肉)
6 - 8 Red Dates(红枣)
1/2 Tablespoon of Wolfberries(枸杞子)2
1.2 Litre of Water

Method:
1. Rinse the herbs and set a side while preparing the chicken.
2. Clean, trim and rinse the chicken, cut it into halves or quarters then blanched it in boiling water for about 3 - 5 minutes. Remove and rinse well.
3. Bring 1.2 Litre of water to boil in a big pot, add in all the herbs and let it simmer on medium low heat for about 5 minutes before adding the chicken.
4. When the mixture comes to boil again after adding the chicken, transfer the mixture to a slow cooker and cook it on AUTO mode for about 2 - 2.5 hours.
5. Serve it warm before meal or together with steam rice.

Burdock is a root vegetables that is high in fibre, low in calories and contain moderate source of iron and calcium which is good for the body. With adding of dried Longan to this soup it nourishes the heart and the spleen and at the same time works well for treating tensions, palpitation, insomnia and forgetfulness which makes this a great soup for the whole family.


Wednesday 20 October 2010

Double-Boiled Pork Muscle with Burdock Soup

What do you need most during these humid and scorching days? I am sure lot of fluid intake in any form such as drinks, soup, dessert and etc becomes the most important task in our daily life. Today I would like to share with you a new ingredient that I have used only once for making the Korean Chicken Soup.

This is a very nutritious and popular soup for kids as the sweetness from the sweet corn and gaint red dates could actually mask off most of the "root" taste from the burdock. You can either serve this soup before or together with your meal.

Burdock comes as a long tapering, soil-covered root, also known as niu bang (牛蒡) by the Chinese. There are many reasons why you should include this root vegetable in your diet. This root is high in fibre and low in calories, rich in potassium and it is also a moderate source of iron and calcium.

The root is often peeled and shredded or cut into chunks, and prepared in soups, porridge, rice and pickled and stuffed into sushi rice. Once the skin is removed, the flesh oxidises quickly so be sure to have a bowl of lightly salted water to prevent browning if you wish to use it for salad.

Here are some of the ingredients used for the soup. Using of pork muscle for a double-boiled soup is always a good choice, as it will retain the flavour of the soup and also usually the meat is discard and we drinks only the soup.

Ingredients: (serves 2 - 3)
250g Burdock, cut into thick chunks
2 - 3 Pieces of Pork Muscle
1 Sweet Corn, cut into section
6-8 Red Dates
1/2 Tablespoon Wolfberries, optional
1.5 Liter of Boiling Water

Method:
1. Trim, clean and place the pork muscle in boiling water for about 2 minutes, remove and rinse well. Set aside for later use.
2. Wash and scrab the burdock with a brush then cut in into thick chunk, alternatively you can use a vegetable peeler to remove the outer skin before cutting it into thick chunk.
3. Remove the husk and leaves of the corn, rinse and cut it into 3 sections and halves.
4. Bring 1.5 Litre of water to boil in a medium soup pot, add in all the above ingredients except wolfberries.
5. When the mixture comes to boil again, lower the heat and simmer for about 45 minutes to an hour or alternatively you can transfer the soup to a slow cooker and cook it on AUTO for about 2.5 hours or so. (add in wolfberries 15 minutes before cooking time)

Often Burdock is used together with other herbs to treat a variety of illness such as colds, throat infections, pneumonia and tonsillitis. This root vegetable is also a great blood-cleansing ingredient that makes it indispensable in treatment for skin disorders. So if you have not try using this wonder ingredient perhaps this soup might gives you a good head start with it.

Lastly, thanks to all the lovely readers from Cuisine Paradise facebook page (link) for their suggestions on using burdock. Here are some of their suggestions which you might be interested to take a look.


Monday 3 July 2006

Korean Chicken Soup

This Korean Chicken Soup is one of the MUST HAVE soup for the Korean during summer days. They usually stuff all the ingredients in a small chicken and double-boiled it over slow heat. But for smaller family, you also can use chicken drumsticks or pork ribs to achieve a similar taste and texture for this soup.


I find this is rather an interesting soup because of the ingredients used. Like Gingko nut, which is normally used for dessert instead of savory soup. And from the above photo you will also wonder, "Is this Soup or Porridge?". Because I used the slow cooker to simmer this soup over low heat for about 2 hours and it became slightly thicken due to the glutinous rice which will make it taste even better. But for those who prefer a clearer soup base, perhaps you can follow the cooking method below or just simmer in slow-cooker for 1.5 hrs instead. Other than gingko nut and glutinous rice, I also use a new ingredient known as Burdock(click link to find out more) which give a unique Root fragrant to this soup, which taste a bit like Ginseng.

Ingredients: (serves 2 - 3)
1/4 Cup Glutinous Rice,糯米
2 Chicken Drumsticks,鲜鸡腿
2 Medium Dried Mushroom,香菇
1 Stem Of Burdock,牛蒡
2 Cloves Garlic,蒜
8 Fresh Gingko Nuts,鲜白果
8 Fresh Chestnuts,鲜栗子
3-4 Ginger Slices,老姜片
4 Red Dates,红枣
1/2 Tablespoon Salt
3 Cup Water, 750ml
1 Stalk Spring Onion
Some Black Pepper Powder

Methods:
1. Soak mushroom till soft with 1 cup of water, cut away the stalk and retain the water for later use.
2. Wash and soak glutinous rice for at least 30 minutes, drain and set aside.
3. Wash, trim and blanch chicken drumsticks in boiling water then rinse and set aside.
4. Wash and cut the burdock into 3cm long, blanch in boiling water, drain and set aside.
5. Wash the garlic and light pound it with the back of the knife. Cut spring onion into thin slices and set aside.
6. Remove the shell and skin of the fresh Chestnut(click link to find out more on removing the shell).
7. Add all ingredients in a pot together with 3 cups of water and 1 cup of the mushroom water and bring to boil.
8. Simmer over low heat for about 20 - 30 minutes, season with salt to taste then sprinkle with some spring onion and black pepper, served.

Notes: This version of Korean Chicken Soup contain more ingredients, for those who prefer less ingredients you can also try this: Ginseng Chicken Soup With Glutinous Rice Posted by Picasa

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